


Neon Shards

by Avogara



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Awkward Romance, Banter, Eventual Romance, Falling In Love, Firehouse Life, First Aid, Flirting, Getting Together, Getting to Know Each Other, Harassment, Healing, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Light Angst, M/M, Pining, Post-Canon, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rescue, Sexual Tension, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-17
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:34:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 46,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22287214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avogara/pseuds/Avogara
Summary: "Galo… you can't save me every time. You just said it yourself. Not everyone can be saved from the flames.""I meant, like, real flames Lio! You know that!" He shot back feeling a little hurt that Lio didn't think he could do it. Of course he could, he was GaloBurning Firefighter SoulThymos!Lio shook his head, biting the inside of his cheek."It's the same Galo.""Well, okay, if it is the same then I can save you and I will save you because I'm not going to let you sit there and take the blame for everything like you had anything to do with those bastards on the ship!"—Lio already blames himself for many things, not being able to save more people in time being one of them.Ever the nosy idiot, Galo comes to the rescue. Again and again.
Relationships: Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos
Comments: 114
Kudos: 293





	1. Pandemonium in the Closet

_"Surely they could have timed it a little better, couldn't they? More than 20% of the city was eviscerated due to their reckless behavior..."_

_"Yes, they might have been able to destroy a little less if they didn't waste so much time bashing around in that ridiculous looking robot. Did you see they want to have it on display in the museum plans over there? Would be a tribute to the unnecessary damage if you ask me."_

_"There were plans to build a memorial park too. I'm not sure where they think they're going to find the money for that considering practically all of Center City is going to take years of funding and tax hikes to properly reconstruct..."_

_"I don't know, it might be worth the effort! That is if we can get proper training to emergency services so that they understand how to minimize the damage next time."_

_"Mercy help us if there is a next time! Perhaps we'll all get lucky and just go out with the first wave. No need to pick up the pieces if you don't make it out of the flames."_

_"Will you all kindly shut up? There are actual genocide victims and otherwise here who could hear your petty complaints if you don't watch it."_

_"Genocide? Now that's a strong word dearie."_

_"That's what it was, don't pretend otherwise. The death toll is still climbing as they sort through the wreckage you know, and—Oh… oh no, I do think he may have heard you all."_

_"Who did?"_

_"The young man. You see the blonde fellow walking away over there?"_

_"Wasn't he the leader of the terrorists?"_

_"He wasn't a terrorist! He was a messiah for those poor people."_

_"Hm. More like a pariah now."_

_"He is a hero and you'd be foolish to think otherwise. Just open your damn checkbooks and save the nasty gossip for your penthouses."_

_"Oh, Lady Buzzkill you've done it once again."_

_"Save me your crocodile tears ladies and gentlemen. They really mean nothing compared to the hell those people have been through..."_

—

"Lio? You in here? Uh, whoa… it... is just a closet. What're you doing in a—"

Galo was very rarely ever rendered speechless in his life, but there were no words for what he saw as he gazed through the crack in the open utility closet door.

On the concrete floor, amongst industrial supply racks, tubs of cleaning agents, a gigantic vacuum, and various handles of other maintenance tools and supplies was Lio. The Lio. His Lio. Sitting down on the ground in his expensive dress slacks, white button up, and black tie. It smelled like Armani and Pinesol in here.

The blonde sat with his thighs pulled up to his chest, his legs bent out in front of him. Elbows leaned atop his knees so that his hands could clutch his face. Fingers spread and pressed hard through his lime gold hair bracing his temples and forehead. Galo couldn't see his expression through the perfect shield of light, shiny locks, but he didn't need to in order to know that Lio Fotia was upset.

"Hey, what're you doing in here?" Galo asked again, blinking. "Are you alright? Lio?"

Galo stepped inside the cramped space, closing the door behind him with a loud, ungraceful shudder. He bent down on one knee, leaning towards the former leader of the Burnish.

He had noticed Lio leaving the banquet hall filled with wealthy donors, city officials, employees, and business tycoons as they tried desperately to raise money for the Promepolis reconstruction and memorial efforts. When Galo had called out his name from across the room, Lio kept moving. So naturally, Galo followed. The lithe figure disappeared down the corridor leading away from the gathering, and oddly enough turned into the supply closet where he was now hunkered down in.

"Lio?" Galo said, trying to lower his voice even though he knew he was bad at that. "You okay man? Did you drink too much or something? Hah, you are pretty small, I bet it doesn't take much to get a lightweight like you—"

An unexpected, bone-rattling sob heaved up from Lio's chest.

"OH, _oh shit_ ," Galo sputtered once he realized there were actual tears behind that beautiful veil of blonde mystery. "A-are you feeling sick? I-I am SO sorry, I shouldn't have assumed it was alcohol! If you're not feeling well I can totally give you a ride home! You shouldn't have to hole yourself up in a supply closet just to get some space away from—"

" _Anything_ ," Lio gasped through silent tears in the most heartbreaking voice Galo was absolutely certain he had ever heard in his life. It was dripping in anguish and raw, clear pain. He could see the trails now that Lio had moved his hands just marginally away from his face. Fingers still tensed and gripping strained at nothing centimeters from his hair as they shook ever so slightly.

"Anything?" Galo asked in what he hoped was a calm, reassuring voice, but what actually turned out to be a highly alarmed and slightly high-pitched squeak.

Galo was confused. Why was Lio crying? This event was supposed to be a happy one—after months of accelerated city planning they were _finally_ unveiling some of the concept drawings and plans. There was going to be new state-of-the-art flame resistant buildings! New offices and homes! There was even going to be a museum! And a park with grass and stuff! With a big, beautiful memorial for the Burnish in the middle! All they needed now was a little funding, which how could they _not_ get after sharing all that cool concept art? Wasn't this progress? Why was he so sad and small and alone out here?

"I…" Lio gasped, his body shaking a little again as his eyes stared blankly through to the dirty concrete floor. Tears prickling along the rims, threatening to overfill.

"I… would have given... _anything_ to save them," Lio said slowly, his voice cracking halfway into a million little pieces. Each one was a shard of raw emotion carrying the terrible shades of his shame, sorrow, grief, regret, hatred, loathing, anger, sadness, rage, fear, and loneliness.

"To save the Burnish?" Galo whispered softly, knowing the answer already. "You did Lio. We did. So many people got to go home to their families that night because of you."

Lio shut his eyes causing the tears that pooled there to race down his pale cheeks. He took a shaky breath in. Galo wanted to touch him, but he also didn't want to make things worse like he did sometimes...

"It wasn't enough," Lio said in a low, uneven hush.

"It was the best we could do," Galo pointed out, daring to lightly touch his lime blonde bangs and tuck a loose strand behind his ear. His shining black triangle earring glimmered in the fluorescent light. Now Galo could see those rose-tinted eyes and all the broken pain that filled them. They were still glassy, but didn't appear to be refilling. Maybe he was listening.

"You can't blame yourself for the actions that others took to hurt people, you know? You stopped so many more from losing their lives Lio," Galo went on and unconsciously continued to stroke his fingers through the silky soft layers of Lio's chin length hair.

"And you can't save everyone, right? Which I know, _I know_ is total bullshit. When I first started firefighting I thought I could save everyone too, but it only took a few real fires—not Burnish ones cause I couldn't start with those—but, yea, real fires to realize that sometimes it isn't possible. For sure, there are days when we can save everyone, which is freaking _awesome_ , but there is always something lost in the flames. Sometimes it's a person or a pet or photos or a home or memories..."

Shit, this was really hard.

Galo didn't know where he was going with this. Usually he just kept talking until someone called him stupid or told him to shut up or gave him an order, none of which Lio was doing so he just kept rambling.

"Anyway, you did what you could do Lio. I did too. Sometimes I think about what I could have done differently and the only thing I can think of is if I weren't such a fucking moron I would have seen the writing on the wall with that bastard." Galo didn't like saying his name around Lio because he normally had such a visceral reaction to it. Even now the memory of that man was haunting the both of them.

"I know it's not true, but sometimes I feel like I didn't do enough too," Galo admitted sadly.

This got Lio to look at him.

He stared up with those oceans of suffering and Galo had the sudden inappropriate and extreme urge to kiss him. Which was highly unexpected and _not_ something he should probably do now or ever because Lio didn't _like_ him like that and—

The door handle shook, startling them both as a familiar face popped in.

"So _that's_ where you went! How romantic." A mischievous grin spread across Lucia Fex's face. "Why don't you two come out of the closet already? They're about to make the speeches!"

"Oh! Ah, well, hm. Yea, I don't think we're going to stay for those. Lio's, uh, well he..." Galo stood up trying to shield her view from the door.

"He's not feeling too hot, so I think I'm just going to take him home," Galo said nonchalantly as he leaned on the door frame to block her from getting closer.

"Oh… Shit that sucks," Lucia said, her face melting into a frown of concern. "Do you need anything? Probably got a pressure point device or something I can go grab—"

"NOPE. No, no, no, all good here!" Galo interrupted putting up his hands as she tried to peek under them. "Just uh, yep, just gonna grab our coats and try to leave quietly, you know? Not make a scene or anything."

"Alright Thymos," Lucia conceded in a nasally huff. "Hope you feel better Lio. See yah later!"

With that she bounced back off down the hallway without a second glance.

Galo whistled long and low to release the unknown tension that had built up inside him. For whatever reason he felt like he had to protect Lio like this, even if it was just from their friendly, well-meaning coworker.

"Lio?"

"Yes?" Lio replied quietly.

"I'm sorry."

"Thanks…"

"If you want, I can go get our coats and we can blow this popsicle joint."

Lio looked up at him and ever so slightly cocked his head to the side, as if he had never heard that phrase before.

"We can get out of here I mean," Galo clarified.

Maybe he should be more careful and not suggest things that sounded like arson. The only trouble was that he wasn't very good at thinking about things before he said them. His mouth was directly connected to his heart and it didn't really have a filter. What he said he meant and what came out wasn't _thought out_ , but it was real and honest and frankly easier that way for him.

Lio nodded. Returning his gaze to the floor. His bangs on one side dropped to shield him while the other side was still tucked rather messily behind his ear.

Ooooooooh, Galo wanted to touch him one more time.

The blue haired firefighter crouched down to his level once more and just barely set his open fingertips against Lio's chin.

"Hey… Look at me," Galo said in as soft a voice as he could manage. He wasn't really known for being a very quiet individual either.

"Please don't Galo," Lio said low and husky as he gently removed the kind hand away from his face. This would have hurt big time emotionally-speaking except Lio kept _holding_ it which was… SUPER nice.

"I just… need some time is all," Lio said evenly as he held Galo's much larger calloused fingers in his delicate half gloved hands. Involuntarily, Galo smoothed his broad thumb over the inside of Lio's pale exposed wrist just below the cuff of his dress shirt.

He was wholly unprepared for how soft it was.

"Ahhh… Mm. Hn." Galo tried to suppress himself.

This was so nice, but it was also SO awkward. Galo wanted to get him out of here, but he also didn't want Lio to stop holding his hand, like _ever_ , even if it was cold, because it was soft and it was _his_ and he was _choosing_ to hold him and that was just _crazytown_.

"Why don't you go get our coats?" Lio asked as he sniffed one last time and let go of Galo in order to palm off the dry tears and mess from his face.

"Got it! Can do! Be right ba—" Galo stood immediately, but in doing so he took a step too far backwards straight onto the foot of a rake, which cracked him hard in the back of the skull. The handle ricocheted and smacked loudly into the other loose standing tools, causing them all to crash into the supplies on the rack and then tumble with a thunderous clamor to the floor.

In less than three seconds, the little maintenance closet looked like a bomb went off.

As Galo opened his eyes, he saw Lio frozen with his arms crossed above his body as if he anticipated one more bottle of disinfectant spray to bash him in the head.

"Holy shit, Lio, I'm SO sorry! I'm such a fucking klutz! What is wrong with me? Are you okay?"

It was then that Galo heard the low rumble of a chuckle.

"Lio?" He said, now even more alarmed than he was before. "Something definitely hit your head, didn't it? Christ, I'm so sorry!"

Lio's light, low laughter filled the wreckage of the once impeccably organized closet.

"Oh my god, Galo. You… you are something else," Lio bit his lip shaking his head and attempting to get up.

"Here!" Galo offered him a hand, which he took much to Galo's delight, and was quite easily hoisted to his feet thanks to the intense layers of muscles the firefighter had built through years of training. It couldn't possibly have anything to do with Lio's featherweight.

Lio stood uneasily trying to find an open spot to place his foot. He held onto Galo's hand as he balanced, latching his other onto the thick arm too when he slipped on a mop head. Galo's insides melted a little. His heart was definitely beating faster than it should be.

"You gonna make it, dude?" Galo asked with a sly, sympathetic smile.

"Probably," Lio sighed locking grateful eyes with him for a moment. "Thanks Galo."

"Sure thing! Next time just come find me and we'll just beat it from the get go," Galo smiled wider leading him carefully out the door through the hubble of janitorial supplies.

Lio raised an eyebrow at him.

Maybe he didn't use that phrase either?

"You know, like, leave. Right away," Galo explained.

"I know what you meant," Lio said.

"Oh… oh! Good. Yea. Of course you did," Galo laughed awkwardly wondering why there were suddenly flurries inside him making him feel… Soft? Warm? Squishy? What the hell was this squishy feeling?

"Hopefully there won't be a next time," Lio continued as he began walking back towards the fundraiser.

"What?!" Galo accidentally shouted down the hallway in confusion. Lio turned around to see him still standing in front of the open supply closet, a few bottles of cleaner at his feet.

"I don't intend for you to ever find me like that again," Lio spoke evenly in his usual composed and eloquent drawl.

"Why not?" Galo shouted once more, feeling like maybe he screwed something up. But _what?_

Lio glared and glanced behind himself to check that they were still alone, before stalking back over to his loud-mouthed friend.

"Because I don't intend for _anyone_ to _ever_ see me like that." The former flame fighter picked up the bottles at Galo's feet and handed them to him one by one. Galo's mouth hung open dumbly as he mindlessly took the liquid soap.

"But-but... Why?!" The blue haired man sputtered, chucking the containers all at once through the door without looking.

Lio frowned in the direction of the mess they'd made.

"Because it's _private_ ," the blonde explained. "And I don't need anyone to see me like that."

"But it's okay to feel that way sometimes," Galo pressed. It was like he was fighting for something, but he wasn't quite sure exactly what that was. The privilege to be there for him?

"Y-you don't have to hide it. I get it man, I really do. You've seen some shit, like, REALLY awful things that no one should ever have to see or do or think about. You don't have to carry all that by yourself. You know that, right?"

Lio then gave Galo a look that he didn't know how to read. It wasn't angry or sad or confused or relieved, it was something else.

"You going to carry it for me, big guy?" Lio flicked his bicep and smiled, which Galo could read and felt marginally better about.

"I could do that!" He said eagerly. "I'd carry it all for you if I could Lio, I really would. You deserve better than this."

"Better than what?"

"Better than… better than crying all alone in a supply closet?"

Galo immediately realized that this was not the right thing to say because Lio turned on his heel and began stalking away. This time he followed.

"I mean—! It's fine if that's what you need to do to get, like, air or space or whatever, but I don't want you to have to do that if there's a way I can help next time or anytime or you know—"

Lio stopped abruptly as they neared the banquet hall filled with the muffled voices of the donors, city workers, and officials. The clinking of glasses and silverware could be heard through the din of laughter, music, and drunken schmoozing.

"What would you have me do then?" Lio asked from behind his hair again. Damn that beautiful, concealing style.

"What would I…" Galo wasn't thinking because he didn't do that, which is why he said what he did next.

"I would want you to find me so I could save you again."

Lio turned to stare at him, involuntarily swallowing what must have been a lump in his throat. His eyes looked broken again for a second, but they held no more tears. Only determination.

"Galo… you can't save me every time. You just said it yourself. Not everyone can be saved from the flames."

"I meant, like, real flames Lio! You know that!" He shot back feeling a little hurt that Lio didn't think he could do it. Of course he could, he was Galo _Burning Firefighter Soul_ Thymos!

Lio shook his head, biting the inside of his cheek.

"It's the same Galo."

"Well, okay, if it is the same then I _can_ save you and I _will_ save you because I'm not going to let you sit there and take the blame for everything like you had _anything_ to do with those bastards on the ship!"

Lio took a deep breath like he was struggling to keep his composure.

"...I don't want to be saved."

Galo managed to choke on his own tongue.

_"WHAT?!"_

"I don't want or need you to save me, alright?" Lio said with a little more resolve and irritation.

"No!" Galo yelled, feeling like he ought to punch something. "What the hell does that even mean Lio? You don't deserve—"

Lio held up a gloved finger, silencing him.

"That's the thing." He pointed to the blue haired man. "Right there. Deserve. _Deserve._ That word, Galo. Do you think those people _deserved_ to die?"

"What? No! Hell no! What's that got to do with—"

"Do you think they _deserved_ to have their bodies turned to ash for 'science?' For the 'greater good?'"

"Fuck, no, absolutely not—"

"Do you think the citizens of this city _deserved_ to have their homes and workplaces and lives destroyed?"

"Lio, you're not making any sense—"

"That's the _point_. It _makes no sense Galo._ None of this makes sense. It's not about deserving this or deserving something else. It is _what it is_."

"I… don't understand," Galo said helplessly confused. This was far beyond his brain's mental ability to process information.

"Nobody does. But it doesn't matter. None of this matters," Lio said bitterly and with such certainty that it broke Galo's heart to hear it.

"You matter!" Galo latched onto a thread he thought he understood and could defend.

"I don't, actually," Lio said matter-of-factly. "Which is why you shouldn't concern yourself with it. It's a lost cause."

That is when Galo snapped.

One moment he was gawking dumbfounded and a little hurt at Lio, the next he was grabbing the smaller man's hand and literally dragging him down the hallway.

"What..?" Lio gasped as he tried to keep up with Galo's gigantic footsteps. "What are you… Where are we going?"

"Coat closet," Galo grunted angrily as steam seemed to plume from his nostrils and ears.

"Another closet…"

"To get our jackets! We're leaving. Right now. _Fuck_ if I can't save you Lio Fotia. Who the hell do you think I am?! I swore _on my life_ to protect and serve the people, and I won't just let someone burn to death when they're obviously on fire. Tough fucking cookies if you don't want to be saved," Galo unhinged as he stormed into the unattended coat check.

"You don't get a choice," Galo huffed, roughly jerking Lio's jacket towards him as he failed miserably at pulling on his own. "You're a victim in this too, more than most people. So ju-just shut up and take the rescue, okay?"

He was losing steam. He didn't really get _angry_ angry often. It wasn't in his heart to do that. But Lio's pretty mouth was running off again, saying crap there was NO WAY he really meant. Right? No one could actually feel that… that hopeless. That completely lost and completely done with trying to make things better...

A slightly shocked Lio took the jostled black jacket. He shrugged his lean shoulders into it, smoothing out the edges that Galo had wrinkled. He was stunning in it, wrinkled or no.

Galo felt a little guilty for yelling. Not for what he said, but how he said it.

"Look, I uh… I don't want you saying bad shit like that about yourself, okay? That's not… helping anything."

Lio wasn't looking at him.

"I know..."

"Come on… Let's, uh… let's go somewhere better than this stuffy old party."

With that, Galo held Lio's hand for the fourth time that night and led him out into the brisk city evening that even now still smelled like smoke and cinders. Galo knew as he dragged his companion running down the block, that somewhere out here were the traces of hope Lio desperately needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I started writing this after watching the gorgeous movie to fill the void these two left. Now I'm deep in a multi-chapter write I never intended to uncover, but hey, that's life.
> 
> Hopefully you enjoyed it if you made it this far, and if so please let me know!


	2. In Pizza We Trust

Hope, according to Galo, was found in the form of pizza.

Lio and Galo sat in a vinyl red booth at the back of the little surviving pizza shop on North & 21st later that same evening after they had escaped the slightly re-traumatizing fundraiser. There were hardly any other customers, save for the teenagers up front who were very clearly in their own world and the occasional pickup order or bicycle delivery kid.

Lio stared blankly at the cheesy food on his plate as Galo finished his third supreme slice.

"Aren't you hungry? I don't think I saw you eat anything at the banquet," Galo mused, licking the pizza grease off his fingers and going in for a fourth slice. He then proceeded to tap out an inordinate amount of grated parmesan from the topping shaker.

"I guess I'm just not that hungry right now," Lio replied mildly, eyes still glued to the melted pile of carbs in front of him.

"How? How can you _not_ be hungry? Weren't you like, killing it at the gym this morning?" Galo quipped through the crunch of his veggies, meat, and cheese.

Lio's eyes narrowed. "Why? Were you watching me?"

Galo choked on some sausage and bell pepper.

 _"NO._ I was just walking by and I saw you going apeshit on the punching bag is all."

"How were you 'just walking by?' The gym is in the back of the firehouse Galo," Lio grinned knowing he'd caught him.

"Whaaa…. Well, cause I came in the back, duh!" Galo blustered trying unsuccessfully to cover his tracks. Being an honest person made him a very terrible liar.

"Why through the back door?" Lio pressed, still grinning slyly through his perfect pink lips.

"You sure have a lot of questions for someone who hasn't eaten all day," Galo managed through a mouth full of cheese and deliciousness as he accusingly pointed his crust in Lio's direction.

"I told you. I did eat."

"What'd you have?"

"A protein shake."

"Okay, and…?"

"I fail to see why this matters," Lio said quietly as he continued to stare intently at his plate. It was almost as if he expected it to launch a counterattack on him if he dared to blink.

"Please tell me you had more than just a shake Lio?" The firefighter half begged, half whined as he popped the last of the crust into his mouth and chewed as if the entire world needed to know he was doing so.

"I ate an apple and some mixed nuts."

"That is ALL you ate today?"

"Yes."

Galo closed his eyes and breathed in slowly.

"Lio," he said with all the seriousness of a heart attack. "I'm gonna need you to eat the rest of this pizza for me."

 _"What?"_ Lio laughed rather loudly by his own mellow standards, apparently finding great amusement in Galo's demand. "We both know _you're_ finishing this pizza in the next three minutes, if not sooner," the lime blonde scoffed incredulously.

"Nope," Galo said dropping his sealed lips lower into a solid pout of refusal. "Not happening."

"How so?" Lio asked with bemused interest.

"Cause I'll just order another one for myself!" Galo laughed, getting up and walking over to the man working the wood-fired oven behind the counter.

"Galo! Galo Thymos, I am _not_ eating this entire thing," Lio called from across the restaurant. He glanced uneasily at the greasy slice still on his cheap plastic dinner plate and the three remaining slices on the raised silver pan.

Galo returned a moment later with a big shit-eating grin on his face.

"Why did you do that?" Lio said darkly, glaring at him.

"Because _you_ need to eat Lio. This is why you're skin and bones! You can't grow unless you feed your body man!" Galo laughed again, smacking the table with over enthusiasm.

"This is not 'growing' food unless you are trying to make me grow love handles or something…" Lio said with muted fury.

Galo then thought of something highly inappropriate and because he had no filter it absolutely passed his lips.

"Pah! I wouldn't care if you had love handles Lio, they're really good for when you—"

Galo stopped. In his mind he repeated the sentence that just left his mouth and cross-referenced it with Lio's expression of slight shock and—up, yep, embarrassment. There it was.

"Uh… you know what! You don't have to eat that. I get it. You like healthy stuff. This was a dumb idea, let's just get a box and—"

It was then that the gooey, melting slice of wood-fired pizza lifted up off the plate across the table and went slowly, carefully past Lio's pristine pink lips and into his mouth. Galo stared wide-eyed as the lime blonde began to chew, rose-colored eyes fluttering closed in concentration as he ate.

Galo was _really_ disturbed by the pressure this created in his dress pants. He had rolled up his white dress shirt sleeves and let his suspenders haphazardly fall to his sides, but other than that neither of them had changed out their fancy banquet attire. He felt mildly relieved he didn't need to go anywhere anytime soon otherwise he'd be _super_ fucked.

"Galo! Your pizza is done!"

Panicked teal blue eyes shifted down the glass counter display as the pizza man pulled the bubbling hot pie from the flames of the open air oven.

"Yea, uh, c-could we get that in a… hah what're they called, shit… in a to go box? Yea, takeaway please. T-thanks Darrien..." Galo called back, to which he received an okay and a thumbs up.

Lio chewed the last of his crust as his rosy gaze carefully watched Galo's face contort.

"You look… unwell," Lio stated.

"What? Naw, I'm fine man. S'all good. Just, uh, just need a minute to… digest. Yep."

Galo felt like such a pervert. Lio was just _eating,_ which is a _normal_ thing to do with _friends_ as long as those _friends_ didn't fuck it up by getting _boners_ when they try to do _normal friend things_ together.

"But your face is turning red," Lio pointed out, dutifully serving himself a second slice.

"Wuh—ack, like yours isn't too!" Galo deflected.

"If mine's red it's because _you_ insinuated—"

Galo groaned deeply, smacking his blue mohawked head down on the table a little harder than he meant to.

"What're you… doing?" Lio asked, but it didn't really sound like a question he was meant to answer. More like a testament to Galo doing something that was clearly blurring the boundary lines for what was and was not considered weird to do in public.

Strands of blue hair fluffed out across the table getting dangerously close to the plates and napkins with pizza dust and grease on them.

"Sorry, I shouldn't blame you for where my mind went..." Lio sighed softly, taking another generous bite.

Galo slid his face to the side to look at his blonde companion from the booth's crowded tabletop. Peering up at him skeptically between the paprika and parmesan shakers.

"Do you like me?"

Lio choked.

"Lio?"

Lio dropped the rest of his slice, which fell directly onto the table beside his plate.

"Holy shit, Lio are you really choking?"

Lio's fingers clutched at his throat as his body convulsed, very obviously trying to gag up the food. His wide rose-colored eyes watered instantly at the pain in his esophagus. Nothing, not a sound was getting out of him.

And then all the color left his face.

"Fuck, oh my god, _fuck!"_ Galo yelled at full outside volume as he crashed to his feet, somehow knocking plates, placemats, silverware, shakers, and half a plastic cup of orange soda off the table in the process.

The well-dressed firefighter hoisted the smaller man out of the booth to his feet and wrapped one arm around his waist from behind as he forced him to bend forward. Galo jammed a balled fist into Lio's abdomen while the other hand latched onto it for support. Thrusting up hard against his navel once, twice, three times.

Nothing.

Lio was now trembling against the much larger man's body. Desperate fingers clutched Galo's arm with one hand and his impassable throat with the other.

Still not a sound was coming out.

Galo's brain was kicked into warp speed overdrive with sheer blind panic. He only had a few minutes to get this right or—NO, he wouldn't go there! He couldn't afford to lose it right now. Lio needed him! Galo's body was doing _exactly_ what it had been trained to do. He fucking knew he was doing it right too so _why wasn't it working?_

The firefighter bent him down further and repositioned his grip below Lio's ribs before he repeated the violent upward thrusts. It was when he crushed his fist up into the petite chest for the 13th time that he heard a miraculous mottled gasp and saw the murderous chunk of dough and cheese and saliva fly across the table and drop to the floor below it.

Lio wheezed for air like a dying man, sucking in breath vehemently and painfully as he crumpled forward. Galo eased him to the floor among the debris of their meal and the puddles of spilled orange fizz.

"Oh my god, that was terrifying. Holy shit. _Holy shit,"_ Galo breathed, shaking from the adrenaline that was madly pumping laps through his blood.

"GALO! Your friend! My god! Is he alright?" Darrien the pizza man stood above them, stunned, arms outstretched like he wanted to do something but wasn't sure what. The teenagers silently gawked from their table.

Lio Fotia’s lips were blue.

"Darrien, could you please dial 911?"

"I already did that, my friend. They are on their way," the poor shop owner said nervously staring at Lio who was shuddering for more air.

"Oh, well. Thank you. Sorry for the mess... I'll clean it up," Galo said getting to his feet.

"You will do no such thing! Take your friend up front to wait now. They should be here any moment. The hospital is just a few streets over."

The pizza man then shuffled to the backroom of the restaurant, presumably to go wherever the paper towels and mop supplies were.

"Lio? Can you stand?" Galo asked gently, offering both of his hands to the finely dressed and disheveled man hunched over on the floor. Soda was seeping into his black tailored pants.

Lio shook his head no.

"Okay, I can—" Galo went to pick him up, but Lio smacked his arm.

"What?" Galo asked confused. "Do you… need a minute?"

Lio shook his head yes, eyes closed and still trembling slightly as he tried to even out his breathing.

Galo took a seat on Lio's side of the booth and leaned his elbows forward atop his knees towards the blonde.

"That was... insane. But paramedics are coming Lio. You should still go get checked out, okay? Sometimes there's damage even if you're able to—"

"Why would you even ask me that?" Lio rasped barely above a whisper from behind his hair shield, still shuddering to gain more air in his desperate lungs.

Galo frowned.

"Because I didn't know if you were _actually_ choking or just messing with me," Galo said honestly, feeling slightly irritated that _that_ was the first thing he decided to say after not dying again thanks to him.

"Not _that_ ," Lio hissed bitterly. "The other thing!"

"The other… thing?"

Galo had to think, which he wasn't good at normally and especially wasn't good at when copious amounts of stress response hormones were blasting through his brain.

"You are such a fucking idiot," Lio muttered shaking his head in disbelief.

"Hey! I'm the fucking idiot who has saved your ass at least two times now!" Galo held up three fingers, then quickly adjusted to two a second later. "So obviously I'm smart enough to do _something_ right when it matters!"

Flashes of red and white light streaked through the glass windows at the front of the restaurant.

"Send them away," Lio demanded clutching the table to stand, but he slipped a little in the spilled drink landing himself right back on the trashed, sticky floor.

"Ohhh no, you need to go make sure things are okay Lio. This isn't a joke," Galo protested as he gripped Lio’s incredibly small wrists and then stood both of them up.

"Good thing I'm not laughing," Lio said dangerously.

The door opened with a soft customer bell chime and two EMTs rushed in with a stretcher.

"I am not getting on that thing Galo Thymos," Lio seethed as they maneuvered through the stand-alone tables to get to the stretch of wall booths at the back. If Lio still had the power of the Promare, he would without a doubt be ablaze in wild neon flames at the moment.

Galo locked eyes with Lio.

And then chose to ignore him.

"Hi there! I'm Galo Thymos, off-duty firefighter from Burning Rescue Unit 3. I just performed the Heimlich for about two minutes on this gentleman right here who was choking on that," he pointed to the dough under the table. "From a slice of pizza approximately ten minutes ago. He's still pretty lightheaded and I don't think he can really walk just yet. His throat is really messed up too, so hopefully they can take a look at it."

The lime blonde glared in pure rage at the somehow very composed and authoritative-sounding airhead. The paramedics set down the stretcher beyond the wreckage on the floor.

"Lio, the nice EMTs came to get you so quickly and they probably have a _ton_ of other people to get to tonight. Do you need help laying down?" Galo asked with thinly-veiled patience, trying to control the situation the best he could and force Lio's hand.

If looks could kill, Galo would be dead many times over.

"I'm fine," Lio croaked to the medical staff. "No need for assistance. Sorry we bothered you. Mr. Thymos had it under control."

"H-His lips were turning blue!" Galo blurted out.

Lio looked at him as if he had just grown four heads with live snakes.

"Sir, if you're not able to lay down we would be more than happy to assist you," the woman said kindly, but without room for argument.

Galo had seen this look on Lio's face before. It was the look he got when he was actually trapped and not just fake trapped like the Freeze Force prison situation. The desperation and panic growing in his rose-colored eyes as he weighed his options silently. Galo felt a little guilty for insisting on this, but he knew it was for the best.

The short blonde man took another moment to think, then sighed. He bent his knees holding onto the booth table while the EMTs helped him get situated. They carried him out on the stretcher while Galo held the door for them.

Lio was staring at the ceiling of the ambulance wondering how many people on this planet have died from pure social mortification or loss of dignity when he glanced over and saw the rather large, even by Galo standards, male EMT hold up a hand to block Galo from getting in.

"Sorry sir, but we can't allow you to ride with him."

"But I—" Galo looked stupefied. This made Lio feel marginally better.

"But he's my husband!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lio can't catch a break, can he? Or was this all Galo's fault in the first place? Hmm...
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoyed! If you did, drop a kudos or a comment and feel the good karma warm you from the inside. <3


	3. As Clear as Gay

"So now I'm your husband, am I?" Lio Fotia said sourly from his small bed at the end of the corridor in the ER department of the Promepolis Central City Hospital. "Don't you think we skipped a whole lot of in-between?"

"Tch, I wasn't going to let them take off with you alone," Galo scratched his head and smushed a hand over his face. "Fuck, this is turning into a long night..."

Lio leaned over slightly to glance at the clock on the wall beyond his half closed green curtain, which said one something or other AM.

"You're the one who insisted on this nonsense," Lio huffed irritably as he picked a loose thread from his light blue hospital gown.

"It's not _nonsense._ You do need to be checked out, they just have worse cases coming in that take priority," Galo explained through an impossibly large yawn.

"Yea, because I shouldn't even be here taking up a bed and wasting space."

Galo frowned deeply at his friend. There was that negative self shit-talking again.

"What were you talking about before?" Galo changed the subject. "Right before the paramedics came in. You said something about whatever I asked you before you decided to test god one more time."

"I don't want to talk about it," Lio replied immediately, turning his face away with a flick of his hair towards the IV drip.

"You did before though! Come on, I seriously couldn't think straight then," Galo whined.

"And what makes you so sure you can think straight now?" Lio asked half amused, half annoyed, but still not facing him.

"Because you aren't freaking dying right in front of my eyes Lio. God, you're so difficult sometimes!" Galo groaned in exasperation.

"I don't think you ever think straight," Lio noted casually.

 _"Excuse me?"_ Galo choked on his own saliva.

"You are G-A-Y, Galo. As clear as day," Lio turned to smirk at him with absolute certainty spread all the way up to his pretty, devious eyes.

"I'm what…" Galo cocked his blue head to the side a bit like a very confused chicken. He put on his thinking face, which looked a lot like his straining face because they were the same.

"You're _gay_ Galo," Lio sighed at his friend's incredible ability to be a complete an utter moron.

"Pfft! So?" Galo scrunched up his nose defiantly.

"So… that's the joke," Lio said, fingers spread up towards the ceiling for a moment as if the heavens had given them wisdom.

"It's not a very funny joke," Galo replied.

"Thinking straight? Gay? Seriously Galo?" Lio raised his eyebrows.

"Oh. OHHhhhhhhh. Okay. Yes. Got it!" Galo shook his head with comprehension. "Yea, still not the funniest. Good try though Lio," the blue haired firefighter grinned when he earned his friend's resting bitchface side eye.

"Hey, don't quit your day job, okay man?" Galo laughed gregariously despite how tired he was.

To this Lio said nothing. Galo thought maybe he didn't hear him and was about to repeat himself because his joke was _totally_ funnier, but stopped when he noticed Lio fiddling with the IV in his lap. Gazing at it uncomfortably as he flopped the connected port around aimlessly between two fingers.

Lio was not normally a fidgety person.

"Lio?" Galo said, the joke forgotten and concern flooding his voice.

The former flame fighter took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"You asked me if I liked you," the lime blonde said quietly to his fingers. "Why did you ask that?"

The silence between them highlighted the natural rumble of the ER. Around them and in the distance were beeps, wheels, low chatter, coughing, machines, and the occasional moan.

"Because I wanted to know?" Galo said weakly, more than a little confused.

"Why did you want to know?" Lio still wouldn't look at him.

"Because I like you a lot," Galo said honestly and then wondered immediately if he should have said that because Lio's face pinched tight and his lips pressed together like he might cry again.

He didn't, but it made Galo feel really bad.

"I don't… I don't think you should Galo," the blonde said carefully. "I don't think I'm the person you think I am."

"Of course you are!" Galo said slamming his hand to grip the railing of the bed. "Well, I mean I know what kind of person you are Lio. Even though it's only been, like, six months or whatever. You're such an amazing guy and I don't ever want to _not_ like you or not be friends or anything."

The former Burnish leader still had his lips pressed tightly together, staring at the hands that were so much smaller and paler than Galo's.

Galo continued earnestly, "I do like you. You're really smart and you care so much about other people. You have a big heart even if you try to hide it. I can't hide mine, it's just… physically impossible. The point being that yours is actually so much bigger than mine and I love that about you."

He noticed Lio's head barely shake from side to side staring into the void in his lap as if he were disagreeing with him mentally.

"Don't you get it, Lio? You work for Burning Rescue now because you are so fiercely passionate about doing the right thing and making sure people are safe and protected. You… you…"

Galo looked around.

"Here," he pressed a large warm finger against Lio's chest, which made the wide-eyed blonde look down at it and then up towards Galo.

"Right in here! You have the same, NO, maybe even a BIGGER firefighter's burning soul than I will _ever_ have Lio."

The face Lio gave him now was hard to interpret. Something between sadness and a dawn of light.

"Do you mean that?"

"Hell yea, I do!" Galo said, smacking his fist into his palm. "We should really get Lucia to fit you to a matoi tech because you're gonna do so much more Lio. I know you are."

"What do you mean?"

It was at that point when a nurse finally drew back the thin green curtain and entered with a clipboard.

"Mr. Fotia! Moderate asphyxiation stopped by one super husband Mr. Thymos. Excellent! How are you feeling now dear?" The plump middle-aged woman in scrubs asked as she jotted something down on his chart.

"My throat is still sore, but I'm fine. Really," Lio said shooting a quick warning glance at Galo, who for once said nothing. His teal eyes grew wider innocently.

"Alrighty, sounds normal enough. That should go away within a few days or so. Your vitals and scans look good. There doesn't appear to be any trauma in the brain so that's what we like to see. Did you have any questions for me before we go ahead and release you?" She asked carefully peeling the IV tape up off Lio's skin.

"How long until he can have pizza again?" Galo asked.

The nurse and Lio looked over at him. Unfortunately, he was dead serious.

The nurse smiled warmly.

"Darlin' he can have pizza whenever he's ready to have it again. Maybe start with something softer so that it doesn't irritate the throat, hm? There you go," she said pulling the needle from the vein in his hand.

"Thank you…" Lio said softly, eyeing the light bruising left behind. She placed a single bandaid over the tiny exit wound and handed him a discharge form to sign while leaving him a copy to keep.

"Alright my dears! You're free to go. Take it easy, chew your food, and look after each other, you hear?" She winked in a way that was both charming and maternal before she bristled away to the next late night misfortune.

Galo helped Lio out of the bed with one strong hand to grip for balance and waited a few minutes beyond the curtain for the blonde to change back into his disheveled dress clothes. Once he was decent, Lio appeared again and they began to walk out of the ER department.

As Lio took much smaller and slower steps, Galo's mind wandered to other places. Which is when he swore he heard the nurse behind them say, "What a precious couple they are! Such sweet kids."

But when he turned around he didn't see her. Suddenly Lio grabbed Galo's bicep for balance, shaking his thoughts away and refocusing him on the task at hand.

It had been a very strange night, but weirdly Galo was still reluctant to end it.

"Come back to my place," the firefighter blurted out once they made it to the crowded parking lot behind the hospital, which luckily had also been spared during the destruction of the city.

At this point, Lio's eyes had light blue bags under them and his face lacked any emotion.

"Galo… I just want to sleep in my own bed," Lio said blankly.

"But your place is really far from here," Galo reasoned. "And it's cold! You hate the cold Lio. And I guess we left our jackets at Darrien's shop, didn't we?"

"He can burn them for all I care," Lio said somberly as he continued to walk with zombie-like determination towards the little bench at the far end of the sidewalk that had a sign for the metro bus next to it.

"He'll probably just stow them in the back for us until we go again," Galo said cheerfully. It was good to have an "in" with the local pizza guy.

Lio sat down on the bus bench and leaned his face forward into his hands.

"Are you crying again?" Galo asked casually, recognizing the gesture from earlier that night.

"No. No, I am not Galo," Lio deadpanned from behind his fingers. "I am tired and I am done for tonight. I can't do anymore."

"Anymore what?"

Galo sat down beside him.

"Anymore of…" Lio gestured vaguely between them. "...This."

"What, like, talking?"

"Sure, let's go with that."

"You don't have to talk Lio."

"Thank you."

"I can do the talking!"

"Oh for pete's sake…"

"I'm glad I found you today Lio," Galo said reflectively. He peered up at the cloudy night sky that mirrored the orange hazy glow of the city lights beneath it. "I feel like I learned a lot about you, but that doesn't change my feelings at all."

"Which feelings?"

"Well, all of them? I dunno. I think you're great even if you talk mad smack about yourself. You can't be so hard on yourself all the time. If you talked to other people the way you've been talking to yourself you wouldn't be friends with that person."

Silence answered him.

"But I am friends with Lio Fotia no matter who he is! I just won't put up with anyone shit-talking my friend."

A tiny, barely visible smile formed on Lio's lips.

"Even if it's my _friend_ who's being a dick to my friend. Get it?"

"Yep, I got it Galo," Lio said indulgently.

"Good."

They sat for a few moments in the dark city silence below the fluorescent beams of parking lot lights.

"I don't think the bus is coming Lio."

"It'll come."

"Yea, at like, 6:00 AM maybe. You don't want to wait out here until then, do you?" Galo asked.

Lio looked really, really done.

"It's not far to go to my place. I can even carry you if you want," he offered, trying to be helpful and totally not looking for another excuse to be close to him.

"I am not being _carried_ anywhere Galo. I am not a child," Lio said disdainfully, wrinkling his nose which made him look cuter than it probably should have.

"I didn't say you were! You just look really beat is all," Galo explained with his simple honesty and logic that made people often call him stupid while at the same time made him infinitely more trustworthy than most others.

The wind rustled dead leaves across the asphalt.

"...Fine."

"Wh… Fine, what?"

"Fine, we will go to your place."

_"Really?"_

"Yes. Why? Were you bullshitting me Galo?" Lio shot him a look that dared him to say yes.

"No! No, no, I meant what I said. I have a futon I can pull out and you can have my bed."

"...No."

"No?"

"No."

"You're gonna have to give me more than that boss," Galo smiled and nudged him as he borrowed the affectionate nickname from Lio's friends Gueira and Meis.

Lio was not amused.

"I am not sleeping in your bed Mr. Thymos. No thank you."

"But we're married, remember?" Galo teased, bumping his side a little with his hip.

"Just… no. Okay?"

"What do you have against my bed?" Galo asked seriously.

"Aside from the fact that it is not _my_ bed, very little."

"But 'very little' is still a something, isn't it?"

Lio sighed through his nose, silently considering what he ought to say next.

"Galo, I appreciate everything you have done for me tonight. You didn't have to do… any of it really. But you did. And the last thing I could do on a night like tonight is take your bed."

"You're just afraid it smells, aren't you?" Galo shoved his shoulder playfully and then caught the slight grin on his friend's face.

" _You are!_ Oh my god, you _totally_ are!" Galo howled with laughter, startling a few stray cats along the fence across the lot.

Lio couldn't stop the uncontainable grin that spread like wildfire across his face.

"Woooow, Lio. I am SO flattered you think that highly of me. Gee, wouldn't want to stay at the _smelly guy's_ house, who'd have thought!"

"To be fair you run around without a shirt on… a lot," Lio reasoned diplomatically.

"And?" Galo asked, tone dripping in sarcasm.

"So it stands to reason that you likely do not wear a shirt to bed."

"Soooo?"

"So your sweaty back is definitely making your sheets stink."

"Sheets can be _changed_ Lio."

"Yes, well mattresses can't."

"I am mortally offended here," Galo pretended to pout.

"Better walk right back into that ER then," Lio grinned through tired rose-tinted eyes. The corners of his lips tucked up ever so slightly like he was enjoying this despite everything.

"I'm not going to make you sleep in my bed, but I bet one day you'll want to! It's seriously the comfiest shit I have ever slept on," Galo laughed again, getting to his feet. He offered a broad hand to Lio.

"Is that a promise, husband?" Lio teased, taking the lift up and walking with Galo across the dim parking lot.

"You bet it is! You'll be _begging_ me someday, just you wait and see!"

"Alright, Galo. I'll wait."

It took about fifteen minutes of walking to reach Galo's apartment building, where they took the elevator up for Lio's sake because he was not about to climb nine flights of stairs after their ridiculously long night of misadventures.

Lio happily took the futon in the living room combined with every other pillow, blanket, and stuffed animal Galo could find in the flat to make sure he was comfortable. He left him a glass of water on the coffee table, along with a towel, a soft gray sleep tee that would absolutely be too big on him, and some old cyan gym shorts from high school that maybe hopefully wouldn't be. He then went to fish out a fresh, still packaged toothbrush from under his sink.

To Galo's surprise, Lio took a shower despite it being almost three in the morning now. Though he certainly didn't blame him considering the multitude of strange and sticky places they’d found themselves in that night. On the contrary, he admired that kind of dedication to hygiene even if he didn't have it himself.

When Galo laid his head down to sleep that night he intentionally smelled his sheets for probably the first time ever in his life.

Perhaps there was something to be said for sleeping with a shirt on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh these sweet fools. Is Galo too honest for his own good? Why does this continue to surprise Lio? Will they finally get to end this beautiful train wreck of a night? 
> 
> Anyway, let me know what you all think! I'm always so curious. :) Thanks for reading friends.


	4. Teabags & Trauma

Barely four hours later, Galo woke to a bloodcurdling scream.

Adrenaline shot through him, jolting his body upright instantly. He rocketed off his bed feet first, tripping and falling hard to the floor as his entire comforter came off with him. The firefighter ninja-kicked the sheets and snapped to his feet clumsily trying to gain his footing before launching out his bedroom door with enough force to punch the doorknob through the wall.

On the kitchen side of his apartment's open living space, Lio stood doubled over in his baggy tee and cyan gym shorts holding something to his chest. An entire electric kettle hung dangerously by the taut cord off the edge of the counter, steam still rising and sizzling from the open top. Its contents were emptied and splattered all over the linoleum floor.

 _"Shit,"_ Lio cursed through gritted teeth. "I'm sorry Galo..."

"Lio, what the—Omigod. _You have to put it under water!"_ Galo choked out, running over to him and accidentally slipping through the scalding hot pools on the floor. Unceremoniously, he grabbed Lio's wrist and jerked the hand into the kitchen sink as he blasted the burned skin with cold tap water.

"I keep... forgetting," Lio bit his lip hard. "So foolish."

His rose-tinted eyes pinched shut as the chilled liquid soothed the sharp sting from his scorched fingers and palm. Galo didn't let go, leaving Lio's thin frame bent over the sink awkwardly. His petite shoulder tucked under Galo's broader arm, face leaning on top of it, while his other hand braced the quartz.

"Forgetting that kettles are _hot?_ Didn't you _just_ turn this thing on?" Galo's teal eyes were wide and confused and still shot through with exhaustion. Why was he awake already? He didn't have work today, did he?

"I _did,_ but mine is gas at home and yours _isn't_ so I forgot, alright?" The short lime blonde in the oversized sleep tee clapped back. He sounded irritated, but more at himself or the pain really than at Galo.

"So when you were Burnish you... you just got to touch any old kettle or pan you wanted without repercussions?" Galo asked incredulously.

"I'm surprised you know that word." Lio was still biting his lip, but now he was grinning. More with affection than with insolence, but Galo couldn't tell the difference in his stupor of adrenaline.

"Oh _puh-lease!_ I'm not the one getting handsy enough to score 2nd degree burns before the crack of dawn," Galo snapped back still holding his small, thin hand under the stream of chilled tap water.

"You wish you were," Lio muttered under his breath.

"What was that Mad Burn King?" Galo shot him a quick glance as the fingers slowly became less violently red.

"Don't call me that. It's disrespectful," Lio said in a low, dangerous sort of tone.

"Okay, fine…" Galo grumbled. He didn't think it was, but he had been told enough times that he wasn't the expert on Burnish sensitivities and therefore didn't get to decide what level of offensiveness things were on.

"And yes," Lio continued. "There's… a lot I can't do anymore," he said wistfully.

Galo stared at the flowing water between their fingers in the sink. It sprayed and splashed recklessly over their skin leaving little droplets up on their exposed forearms.

"Like what?" The blue haired man asked quietly, his thumb unconsciously moving across the soaked wrist beneath the burned palm.

"Like make tea," the blonde laughed darkly. "Or cook the way I want to. See in the dark. Stay warm. Many other things. I never realized that normal people were this cold on a regular basis before… It's awful."

"Hah, well, _I'm_ never cold," Galo said rather smugly. "I run super warm, which is why, yanno, the shirtless thing happens a lot."

"You're also not really in the 'normal people' category," Lio teased wryly.

"Oh, gee thanks boss," Galo quipped using the borrowed nickname. "Galo the hot weirdo at your service!"

"Well, you're in a league of your own anyway," Lio continued.

 _"I AM?"_ Galo gawked down at him.

"Why do you sound surprised by this?"

"I dunno! No one's ever said anything like that to me before..."

Galo felt heat rise to his face. If he didn't know better he would think Lio was… enjoying this somehow. This back and forth banter that always had a little bite, but rounded itself out with that warm, squishy feeling he still wasn't used to. His heart was definitely squishing right now as he got to hold Lio's hand for like, the eighth time in 24 hours between insults and praise and saving his ass.

"Hmm. First time for everything I guess," Lio shrugged. "When can we stop all this?" The short, lithe man squirmed, repositioning his legs so that he was now primarily leaning his weight on the opposite foot.

"Has it stopped hurting?" Galo asked and then instantly regretted doing so because 1) if he thought things through before opening his big mouth for ONCE in his life he could have bought at least another three minutes holding Lio's beautiful, burned hand, and 2) he was close enough to Lio's light frame to actually _smell_ him, but he hadn't done that yet because he was distracted.

Wait, was that creepy? Should he not be committing acts of premeditated smelling even if Lio was choosing to be this close to him?

Double wait, maybe he _wasn't_ choosing to be this close! Galo was really strong and sorta just forced him to save his singed fingers whether he wanted it or not.

"I can't tell. It's numb now," Lio admitted.

"That counts!" Galo said with a half fake smile. Unhappily he let go, but Lio didn't move away immediately. He kept his raw hand under the stream and his body tucked halfway under Galo's as he stared. His palm and four fingers were bright pink with freshly exposed layers of skin. Luckily, it didn't look too deep compared to other burns the firefighter had witnessed.

"Let's wrap you up Lio. Those are going to blister like a bitch soon enough," Galo said, reluctantly letting his basic rescue training get the better of him despite his desire to stay close like this. "If you can, wash it with soap real quick then go sit down. I'll be there in a sec."

"Alright," Lio said quietly.

The former Burnish washed it as best he could then padded over to the couch avoiding the water wreckage on the floor. Galo opened up a kitchen cabinet and pulled out his first aid kit. He plunked down next to Lio, opening the kit on the coffee table, and fishing around until he found a box with non-stick bandage pads and a roll of gauze.

Lio's rosy eyes followed his movements silently and when Galo put out his hand, he gave him his own without protest. The palm was turning red again like it was remembering it was injured.

"You're not going to ice me, Galo?" Lio asked with amusement.

It was a joke he made infrequently because it was kind of off-color, but it referred to the before times when people were going around "icing" the Burnish. Nothing the Freeze Force had done before was funny, but Lio had taken a special sort of satisfaction in outwitting them more than once. They were officially dissolved and arrested after the fall of Kray Foresight and the escape city, and were all booked to stand trial a few years from now. Galo knew Lio looked forward to being a witness for the prosecution in each and every case.

"No, that would actually damage your skin cells even more," Galo replied in uncharacteristic monotone as he focused intently on laying the pad directly over the wound and ripping a long strip of gauze with his teeth.

"Oh..."

The firefighter began carefully wrapping the gauze around his palm and fingers so that it was tight enough to stay secure, but loose enough not to increase the swelling. His teal eyes were so focused on his mission that he didn't notice Lio staring at his arm.

"I can't imagine what that felt like," Lio said softly, tracing his gaze over the exposed severe scarring covering the entirety of Galo's left arm. There were mottled, randomized streaks of discoloration spider-webbing up and down his thick muscles. It even extended to his hand, which Lio realized he hadn't really ever properly seen up close without some form of glove on until now.

"Sorry, I don't sleep with that thing on," Galo muttered, referring to his white compression sleeve. It was supposed to reduce scarring and help it heal, but Galo wasn't wholly convinced it was doing either. What it _did_ do was make it feel slightly better pain-wise because it still hurt sometimes if he stretched it the wrong way. It really wasn't doing much aesthetically in his opinion. He wasn't super vain or anything, but he had kind of hoped for more improvement by now. Despite this, he hadn't considered skin grafts. The burns were a well-earned badge of his courage and a reminder to stay vigilant.

"You shouldn't apologize. I'm the intruder in your home," Lio said still taking in the brush stroke-like living artifacts of Burnish flame. Promare flame. Lost flame.

"I already told you, you're not an intruder. You're just a really accident-prone dude who can't go five hours without needing a rescue." Galo grinned at this with some amount of pride. He didn't mind the trend necessarily, as long as he was nearby to help.

"Tch," Lio scoffed. "You know I'm perfectly capable when I'm not around you. You must be bad luck or something."

Galo took a hot second to glare up at Lio before he continued his wrap.

"I'm not bad luck. If anything I am really _good luck_ because I'm there for you every time no matter what."

Lio paused.

"I suppose you are," he sighed lightly as Galo finished the dressing.

"Practically new!" Galo beamed at his handiwork. "Just obviously, don't do a whole lot with it, okay? It should only take a few weeks to heal. I can help you change it every day if you want."

"Every _day?_ Isn't that a little excessive?" Lio asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Not really. I guess you could go a few days if you're super careful not to get it wet, but you want to check on it and keep it clean," Galo shrugged.

"Did you do it every day for that?" Lio was staring at his scarred arm again.

"Well, yea, but I didn't have a choice in the beginning," Galo scratched the back of his blue head. "It took at least three nurses to do it each time too."

Lio's rosy eyes grew slightly.

"Why?"

"Cause it hurt like a motherfucker! Two would have to hold me down and give me something to bite on while the other one unwrapped it. They say that shit is non-stick, but fuck me if it actually was!"

Lio's eyes looked away awkwardly for a second, but Galo didn't notice.

"Some of these scars are from all the skin that sloughed off when they did it. Heh, peeled my arm like a damn banana," Galo laughed a little at the traumatic memory. He could do that now.

From the slight crinkle in Lio's nose, Galo could tell he had probably been a little too honest again. He always forgot how disgusting this story was and how most people didn't want all the gory details. But Lio was _asking_ about it, so how could he _not_ go into it just a little bit?

"Sorry, I forgot how mega gross it is... I had to live with it like that for so long that it didn't bother me after a while. Which actually is pretty awesome if you think about it because I can stomach other people's injuries even better now!" His teal eyes were smiling with positivity, so much so that Lio had to close his own and shake his head as he suppressed a grin.

"Oh, Mr. Thymos. You are a living wonder," he sighed thoughtfully.

"That's Mr. Husband to you, sir," Galo chided, renewing the joke from the night before as he placed his supplies back in the kit and snapped it shut.

"I think you are going to have to work a little harder to earn that title," Lio smirked, admiring his new Galo wrap job.

"...Alright."

"Alright?" Lio turned to him confused.

"Yea. What do I gotta do?"

Lio stared slightly open mouthed at him, which was unusual because he normally exhibited perfect, serene composure.

"Don't be an asshole Galo."

_"WHAT?"_

"I like a good fuck as much as the next guy, but I do _not_ appreciate being fucked with like that," Lio said incensed. His nostrils were even flaring. Wild Burnish flame would have probably lit up around him if it still existed in this world. Flames and PJs aside, Lio was _intimidating._

"L-Lio, I'm not joking!" Galo sputtered, wondering how he went from being a fake wonder husband one minute to an _asshole_ the next. "I mean it!"

"Mean what exactly?"

"Well I—I just… I thought... I…" Galo wasn't quite sure which words would work here. What _did_ he want?

"Uugghhhh! It's complicated," Galo copped out, running a hand through his blue tresses that were still mussed and limp from sleep.

"I've got all day," Lio quipped, folding his arms defiantly across the baggy gray tee Galo had loaned him.

"You do?"

"Figuratively speaking."

"I don't know what that means."

"It means you need to answer the damn question Galo."

"I forgot what it was?" Galo said pitifully.

"How…" Lio gave him a look that he knew very well from his coworkers, his neighbors, and even his family. It was the _"How are you so dumb"_ face. But Lio was kind enough not to finish that thought. He just huffed out a frustrated sigh.

"You are very confusing Galo," the lime blonde said glaring at the first aid kit intensely.

Galo swiped his blue mohawk back and scratched his lightly stubbled face.

"Probably because I'm very confused myself most of the time," the brawny guy admitted. "I'm sorry Lio. I didn't mean to tick you off. I just want to see you more is all…" He explained in what was a rather sad puppy dog sort of tone.

"But hey, do you want that tea now? Just gotta clean up first," Galo said brightly.

Lio watched Galo bound up off the couch and grab the entire roll of paper towels off the counter to address the floor situation. He was tactless when it came to switching topics, but Lio already knew and accepted that.

"We see each other practically every day at work Galo," Lio said as he leaned back on the couch and cocked his head slightly.

Galo was bent over in his black boxers, tawny biceps working the water up from the floor. It wasn't a bad view.

"Yea, I know! But not a lot outside of work!" Galo's perfectly sculpted abs tensed as he moved around the space finding spots he'd missed.

"We saw each other last night," Lio offered, now distractedly eyeing his thick thighs that were sort of new to him considering Galo mostly wore pants or gym shorts.

"That was for _work_ Lio. It doesn't _count."_

"What would count then?"

Galo stopped bopping around the kitchen as he balled up the used paper towels and put on his thinking/straining face.

"Well, something like the pizza place could work."

"Galo Thymos, I am _not_ eating—"

"Not NOW. Not pizza even. I just thought, you know, somewhere with _food_ could be nice," Galo explained.

"Well, that narrows it down to about 30 billion places. Try again big guy," Lio said with fondness clear in his voice as he bit the inside of his cheek.

Damn that squishy feeling was back!

Galo tossed the trash and refilled the kettle, placing it back in its proper place.

"I dunno Lio. Maybe someplace that has like, food and _things_ to do."

"I believe you just increased the number of potential options," the lime blonde smiled unable to contain it any longer. This wasn't a bad view either. The strong, solid back muscles working to prepare the tea while his cute, rounded buttcheeks shifted with him reaching into the fridge.

"Creamer or milk?" Galo asked holding the chilly door open with his toes.

"Neither."

"Ohohoho! He likes it black people!" Galo laughed pulling out the creamer, presumably for himself.

"You could say that," Lio muttered watching the black boxers stretch with Galo's leg muscles when he kicked the door shut and walked back over to his tea prep area.

"What about sugar? You don't do that, right?" Galo asked still chuckling.

"Just one."

 _"Really?_ I pegged you as a no sugar guy because you always choose salad even when you don't have to."

Lio shrugged even though Galo had his back to him.

"I like things a little sweet sometimes."

Galo threw him a quick, ornery grin over his shoulder for no reason in particular before he poured the steaming water into two cups. The tea bags released swirls of caffeinated auburn sediment.

"You're a tough guy Lio, but you know you're also kinda soft sometimes," the firefighter chuckled dipping one of the tea bags up and down thoughtfully.

It was at that moment that something hard collided with the back of Galo's head. It ricocheted off his skull and busted open on the kitchen floor with a deafening crack. His remote laid in seven pieces.

"OW! What the _hell_ man?! Did you really throw that at me?! I'm making you tea!" Galo cried defensively.

Fury burned in Lio's fiery pink eyes.

"I will gladly kick your ass anytime, anywhere Galo Thymos," he breathed. "We'll see who's _soft_ when you're the one on the ground begging me for mercy."

For some unholy reason despite how much Galo's head hurt, the visual of that happening sent pleasurable chills down his spine, through his ass, and to his groin. He was suddenly very aware of how naked he was.

"I didn't mean you weren't strong as fuck! Christ Lio, did it have to be the remote? I only have one you know…"

Lio glanced at the first aid kit case on the coffee table and suddenly Galo appreciated the fact that he had selected the remote.

"Aw, whatever. I'll bring it to Lucia and see if she can fix it," Galo sighed stirring in his creamer then grabbing Lio's mug.

He offered a weak smile of apology alongside the black tea with one sugar to his ruffled looking companion on the couch.

"I am not _soft,"_ Lio reiterated taking the mug reproachfully.

"I didn't mean it _that_ way, okay?" The blue haired guy sat down on the couch atop a folded leg. He took a large stuffed animal sloth from the night fortress he had built Lio and secured it over his lap for insurance purposes. No more semi-surprises allowed in the friend zone.

"I just meant you can be kinda gentle at times. It's nice. Like you have a big heart, but you're so tough and serious that people probably don't get to see it much."

"Only idiots apparently," Lio huffed taking a sip and reluctantly melting a bit at the warmth.

"Well this idiot likes it, okay? You're really cute."

Again, it is worth mentioning that Galo has no filter. He wasn't born with one. He wouldn't know what to do most of the time if he did have one. But _this_ time he did know that he wouldn't have pulled out the "c-word."

Lio looked like his heart was broken again. His face flushing instantly into hazy shades of rose that then flashed rapidly to anger.

"You need to _stop_ saying shit like that Galo," he warned venomously.

"I'm sorry?" Galo wasn't sure why that wasn't an okay thing to say. Was this another Burnish sensitivity subject? He needed flashcards or something because it was a lot to try to remember.

"Maybe I should go."

"O-Okay, I take it back! Y-You're _not_ cute! Not at all!" Galo slammed his mug down on the coffee table splashing some of it out the top. "Don't go just yet! Ugh, I… I think maybe we might have different definitions for certain words Lio. I'm literally never _trying_ to offend you, but it just keeps happening. I wish I wasn't as stupid as everyone thinks I am, but apparently they're right because I just keep fucking up over and over—"

"You're not stupid Galo."

Silence passed thickly between them.

"And now I can't even hear things right! I guess I oughtta get that checked out next," the blue haired fool frowned as he dug a pinky into his ear.

"Stop that, it's gross," Lio reprimanded him, swallowing a little. "You heard me the first time. You're not stupid."

Galo put his massive palm against Lio's forehead, scrunching up his light lime-tinted bangs.

"What are you doing?" Lio realized this was probably the question he asked Galo the most, but it was always warranted.

Galo's eyes were fixed on his head. "I think you may have a fever from all the crap that happened last night because you're hallucinating or something."

"I am _not_ hallucinating," Lio shoved his hand off with a surprising amount of strength. "You're _not stupid,_ you just think you are because everyone else does. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy."

"I have a prophecy?" Galo's eyes grew larger. "Can you read it to me Lio? What's your prophecy?"

"No, that's not… How do I…" Lio tried to think of how he would explain it to a five year old.

"You believe you're stupid, right?"

"Most of the time, yea," Galo agreed easily.

"Well you only believe that because that is what you tell yourself. You hear it from others and then you repeat it over and over until you believe that too. Anything can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Yours just happens to be that you are an idiot."

This was a lot to process for Galo.

"So what would happen…" the firefighter started carefully. "What would happen if I _didn't_ believe that?"

"What do you think?"

"I dunno, I'm not good at thinking about this kind of stuff…"

 _"That_ is an example of your prophecy at work. You say you aren't good at thinking, so then you aren't. You are lowering yourself to meet those expectations," Lio explained patiently.

Galo felt uncomfortable now. Lio seemed to know a whole lot about him that he didn't know himself. His friend had never even indicated that he knew all that before this moment. What else did he think of him? What else was Galo doing without knowing?

"So… can I… like, change that then?" Galo furrowed his brow as he struggled to put the pieces together.

"You can. It just takes hard work and discipline," Lio eyed him carefully over the top of his mug as he sipped.

"OH, well I have those!" Galo said excitedly. Relief melting on his face.

"Because you believe you have them," Lio pointed out.

Galo's teal eyes enlarged again.

 _"MORE_ prophecies?!" He squawked leaning forward with rejuvenated interest.

Galo never doubted that Lio was a smart man, but now he seemed like a beautiful freaking _genius._ Apparently, Galo wasn't dumb. Apparently, if he believed he could be smart then that could actually _make_ him smart. His mind was blown and he carried on asking Lio questions and trying to poke holes in his logic until all the tea was gone and the sun had begun to rise beyond what was left of the midtown skyscrapers outside.

"I should probably get going Galo," Lio said as he got up, stretching from the couch. The tiniest sliver of his pale belly could be seen as he arched his back. Galo hugged his plushy sloth friend.

"We could get breakfast if you want," Galo offered hopefully. He didn't want their conversation to end. It was 8:23 in the morning on a Saturday and his ass was wide awake and charged for as much Lio Fotia as the universe was willing to give him.

"Maybe another time," Lio smiled casually brushing a few stray fingers across Galo's knee as he turned to go rinse his mug out. Electric sparks flashed rapidly from the denotation point on his leg and spread like fireworks up on through the rest of his body.

"Really?" Galo asked hopefully, lifting himself off his folded leg a little while still holding the poor sloth to his crotch like a war shield. "Like next weekend or something? We can go to this little diner on Spruce that has the best goddamn pancakes on the planet!"

Lio finished rinsing and stowed the clean mug away in the cabinet Galo had retrieved them from. Unconsciously, he swiped a strand of lime blonde hair behind his shiny black earring as he turned to face Galo.

"Alright. It's a date then."

Galo's erratic heart then ascended into squishy heaven.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Never a dull moment with these two coconuts haha... It's sort of nice to see them slow down a bit, but even then they still manage to stir up trouble don't they? So many misunderstandings, so little time...
> 
> Thank you guys so much for reading and for all your comments/kudos! <3 It's the small things yall. Really.
> 
> Up next we have a date, people! Red alert! This is not a drill!


	5. Hot & Steamy

"Look, I wanna tell you guys something, but you gotta _promise_ to keep it on the down-low," Galo said shiftily from behind his cards.

“Oh my goooddd…”

“Seriously, Galo?”

“Galo, please just hurry up and pick a card…” Remi groaned into his hand.

The blue haired firefighter glanced up to see that Remi, Lucia, and Aina had already selected their face down Sushi Go cards and were rather irritatedly waiting for him to do the same.

“Oh! Yea, sure,” he said, casually plucking a card at random and laying it face down on the rec room table of Burning Rescue Unit 3.

The group revealed their initial sushi selections and each passed their hands to the player on their left.

Lucia cackled wildly when she received Galo’s unselected draft cards. He threw her an agitated glare and selected another maki roll for his next play.

When they revealed again Lucia burst out laughing far more uncontrollably this time.

“Galo!! I don’t know HOW many times we have to play this with you for you to realize that you HAVE to play the pudding game or else you _LOSE_ points at the end of the round!” She tried to breathe through her grating rolling laughter, slamming her hand down repeatedly as if this were the funniest thing she’d ever witnessed in her life.

Galo blinked. Now that she mentioned it, both Remi and Aina _had_ already played pudding cards across the table… and maybe he did totally pass one in his hand to Lucia…

“It’s okay Galo,” Aina said reassuringly. “It’s just a game. You can’t be good at everything.”

“WHAT? Are you saying I suck at this too Aina?” That hurt a little bit. She was his _best friend,_ how could she?

 _“No,_ I’m just saying you have other strengths and Sushi Go isn’t one of them,” the bubblegum haired firefighter flicked her draft card face down and waited once again for her friend to choose his card last.

“Geez, you guys have soooo much faith in me,” the brawny, ego-bruised fool huffed as he picked another sushi at random. So what if he wasn’t great at this game? He always agreed to play when they asked him, shouldn’t they be grateful for that?

 _“Anyway,_ it’s like I was saying—I have something important to tell you guys if you could just _listen_ for like, _five_ seconds—”

“WHY would you pass a squid nigiri Galo? Why?! That’s straight up three points! That’s _half_ as many as you need to recover from your hardcore pudding fail!” Lucia lost her shit again, pounding the table as wild giggles bubbled out from under her blonde and strawberry-striped hair which was laying face down in comical tears.

Galo deadpanned.

“You _know,_ I’m glad you’re getting so much enjoyment out of this. Really. I am. Because if _this_ is the highlight of your week, _which is pretty sad really,_ then I’m _super_ happy to give it to you,” he said sarcastically as they once again revealed their cards to Lucia’s continued mirthful howling.

Remi glanced up at his miffed companion and sighed a little, slightly tipping his glasses up on the bridge of his nose.

“Galo. If you have something you’d like to share with the class we’re all ears,” the vice-captain said in his usual neutral calm tone. He wouldn’t be second in command if he didn’t take notice of every single one of his coworkers’ habits, strengths, weaknesses, and moods.

At this Galo brightened up and opened his mouth to say something only for Varys to walk into the room at the exact same moment. He seemed to be freshly showered after a workout in the Burning Rescue gym.

“Oh! Hey Varys!” The distractible mohawked firefighter said pleasantly to his non-annoying, non-competitive coworker.

“Hey Galo. You guys playing that _again?”_ The hulking heavy machinery ops teammate laughed lightly as he took a seat on the nearby couch and flicked on the rec room TV.

“Unfortunately,” Remi answered just as Galo opened his mouth to speak. “Thymos was about to enlighten us with a secret of his.”

“A _secret?”_ Varys frowned with raised eyebrows as he flicked through the channels.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa—I didn’t say it was a secret!” Galo held up his hands innocently as if he had nothing to hide.

“You said ‘down-low,’ which means ‘don’t tell anyone,’ which means _seeeccreeettttss,”_ Lucia whispered wickedly as she bit her lip with barely containable excitement. “Spill it dude!”

“Galo doesn’t keep secrets,” Aina said hotly in his defense. “Galo’s as honest as they come. I don’t think he could keep a secret if he tried, actually…”

“I _told_ you—it’s not a secret!” Galo groaned trying to break through, but his excitable, far faster thinking and talking coworkers kept beating him to the punch.

“What’s the big mystery then?” Remi interjected once more, trying to give Galo the spotlight so that he wouldn’t be all pouty and break things later. Better to get it over with and let him babble for five minutes about whatever new discovery he’d made ten years too late rather than listen to him sulk about it for the rest of the shift.

With that, every single one of Galo’s coworkers in the room looked over at him in silence waiting, which took him by complete surprise. This just never happened with the constant chaos of his team.

“Well, uh…”

Galo wasn’t used to all the attention suddenly stopping on him necessarily. Not that he didn’t like or appreciate it, he just wasn’t expecting it.

“Well, I mean... you all know what happened last weekend, right?”

“We went to the banquet!” Lucia supplied helpfully for once.

“Yea! We totally did, but I-I mentioned to you what happened after that, right? With me and Lio?” Galo asked hesitantly. He had forgotten which people he had told what because Monday morning was a word-vomit blur as his brain violently info-dumped every single piece of new information and Lio-related discoveries he’d made over the weekend. Quite frankly, he _had_ to share or his brain would have absolutely exploded.

“You guys went out for pizza,” Varys said evenly from the couch.

“And then the hospital,” Remi sighed, bracing his temple with two fingers.

“And then he came over…” Aina stated skeptically as if she still thought there may be more to that part of the story and fully intended to get details out of him later.

“And you made out in a closet!” Lucia chimed in nasally sing-song.

“Right! Exactly! So then—wait... no! _We didn’t make out in a closet!”_ Galo choked and gawked at his rude little sister of a mecha gearhead coworker.

“Well, whatever you did in there suuuuure looked suspicious to me!” The tiny hardware tech grinned devilishly from ear to ear.

“PSH! It’s none of your _business_ Fex! You don’t even—”

“ENOUGH,” Remi boomed in his authoritative everybody-shut-up-and-listen voice. He was scary sometimes. Sometimes being frequently when practically the whole crew got together.

The room stilled and was silent save for the fighting and announcer sounds of the MMA match Varys had tuned into and the low rumble from the water line going to the gym showers down the hall.

“Galo,” Remi said sternly. “It sounds like you had a lovely time preventing Lio from dying last weekend, but if that’s _all_ you did then I’m sure we’ve heard enou—”

“WE’RE GOING ON A DATE!”

The entire room went dead silent again. Galo panted a little from his forceful, but necessary outburst and blinked trying to read each of their faces. For a moment, all he got were blank, dumbfounded looks back at him.

"Oh god, finally," Aina breathed out in relief.

"About time,” Varys agreed.

"YEEESSSSS!!!" Lucia screeched throwing her sushi cards up in the air like a mad woman.

"Dear lord…" Remi sighed for the umpteenth time that afternoon.

“Wait… what?” Galo was so, so confused. “Did you guys even hear what I said? Lio and I are going on a _date.”_ Their reactions were not the ones he had been expecting at all. Shouldn’t they be, like, surprised or something? What was this "finally" crap?

“Cough it up people! Time to pay the piper!” Lucia giggled maniacally, beckoning with her hands as the rest of the crew seemed to dig out their wallets.

“Wha… What the… _Did you guys make a bet on me?!”_ Galo’s jaw hung open dumbly as he watched the bills pile up in front of Lucia’s gleefully smug face.

“I don’t know how she guessed it…” Aina said reproachfully as she laid down her portion.

“Love isn’t a science...” Varys sighed in baritone. He tossed his bit on the table and sulked over to the mini fridge for an energy drink while he was up.

"Maybe it's because Galo has the emotional complexity of a peanut!" Lucia snickered as she nabbed up all of her winnings and stuffed them into a very cute Pokemon purse.

“I can’t believe you placed bets on me,” Galo said in utter disbelief. “What was the bet even on?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” His blonde and pink-bunned coworker cocked an eyebrow at him. “For when you and Lio would start dating, that’s what! I had the six to seven month range, which whaddya know—we are _precisely_ within that window!”

Galo was still so, so confused.

“But… it's just a breakfast date. Does that really count as actual ‘dating?'" The blue haired firefighter scratched his head thoughtfully.

“What do you mean _does it count?”_ Lucia shot back. “Aren't you going on another date after that?”

“I don’t know! We just had the one set up,” Galo said defensively, teal eyes wide with some strange mixture of innocence, shock, and embarrassment. He hadn't thought that far ahead yet. He was really just looking forward to Lio and pancakes...

“Well are you dating or _not_ Thymos? This is important!” The gearhead slammed her fist, nearly shouting even though Galo was right next to her.

“Lucia that’s enough,” Remi interjected. “If it turns out they’re not dating you can just refund us our money and it’ll be no harm, no foul.”

“WHAT?! That is MAJOR harm and foul! Galo, you better not screw this up!” The little mecha tech warned him with irritating belligerence.

“I’m _not_ screwing anything up! Lio agreed to go with me and we had a GREAT time last weekend so it’ll be GREAT next time too,” he barked back at her, now standing up so that he could bear some of his full height and hopefully intimidation over her. It never worked, but he wasn’t going to stop trying because she could be such an annoying little shit when she wanted to.

“Lio didn’t look like he had a good time.”

Everyone turned to Varys whose dark eyes were glued to the fighters on the flatscreen. The silence must have pressed in on him, because he glanced over at the table where each of his coworkers were staring at him.

“Sorry!” Their brawny body-builder of a teammate said quickly with apologetic eyes. “I mean it seemed like he got in a fight or something. Must have been a bad one too by the look of it...”

Galo’s heart dropped through the pit of his stomach.

“He… what?” The blue haired fool felt his breath pick up. “Why would you say that Varys? Did he tell you he got in a fight?”

“Well, no, but in the gym he—”

Suddenly, Galo was down the hall racing towards the company gym at the back of Burning Rescue, heart pounding in his ears with rising panic at the thoughts that flooded his mind. Who did Lio get into a fight with? _When_ did he even have time to fight last weekend? Was it before or after their time together? It couldn’t have been before, could it? Why didn’t he tell him about this? Did it happen on his way home? Why didn’t he have a stupid cell phone so he could fucking text Galo that he got home safe? _Was this all Galo’s fault?_

“LIO!”

Galo burst through the gym doors only to find the entire room empty save for his own reflection on the far mirrored wall among the equipment. He looked entirely too manic and wide-eyed for his own liking, but he couldn’t help it—he needed to find Lio before he had an aneurysm.

_“LIO!”_

Rushing through the hallway at the back he checked the locker room next door and then the connected men's washroom beyond. Steam hit him in the face when he slammed open the door and he slipped his way through the heavy mist towards the one steaming shower.

“LIO ARE YOU IN—”

What happened next was unfortunate for a few reasons.

1) Galo had never intended to barge in on Lio naked, despite the fact that clearly he was busy and indecent because he was in the _shower._ 2) Lio had never intended to punch Galo in the face, but when the curtain swung back unexpectedly it was his first gut reaction to being interrupted in what was normally a rather peaceful, safe space to be in Burning Rescue. 3) Neither of them had seen each other since their sleepover late last Friday night and this was not an ideal way to catch up no matter how you sliced it.

 _“Galo,_ what are you… Why are you… Are you okay?” Lio Fotia asked with probably more compassion in his voice than Galo deserved at that point.

The overzealous firefighter had somehow managed to keep his footing during the blow, but was bent fully over holding his crushed nose with one scarred hand as the other braced his knee for support. He didn’t answer Lio right away, which was alarming in and of itself.

“Galo, I’m sorry, you just scared me,” he heard Lio say half apologetically, half slightly irritated. “Let me see. How bad did I get you?”

At this, Galo finally looked up while he held his nose with blood-dripping fingers. Lio was staring at him with concern etched all over his features, his lime blonde hair limp and wet as the spray continued to pour down on him. God it was _so cute,_ but now was _not_ the time and Lio apparently hated that word anyway. The former Burnish held the shower curtain up like a shield over the lower half of his body, but that didn’t hide the blooming deep purple and blue bruises that covered his abdomen.

“Lio, oh my god,” a lightheaded Galo breathed out nasally through his disgusting blood wet palm as he felt his stomach bottom out again. “What happened to you? Holy hell…”

Galo felt like he had failed Lio. Lio had gotten into a fight and he wasn’t there to protect him or back him up. Why the _fuck_ hadn’t he bothered to walk him home?

"Galo…” Lio said carefully with patient concern still evident on his face. “You happened to me... Don't tell me you've forgotten already."

That made no sense to Galo's adrenaline pumping and now slightly blow-rattled brain.

“What? But… but Varys said you got into a fight or something?" Galo explained pathetically as his teal blue eyes traced the dark marks over Lio’s pale chest over and over again. There were so many but they mainly focused on his core slightly beneath his ribs and along his toned abs, which is exactly where Galo had been crushing his friend in order to dislodge the evil pizza over the weekend.

“No,” Lio said gently. “I don’t know who I’d be fighting, but this was all you Galo.”

At this, Galo spun on his heel, charged over to the sinks, and turned the water on full blast as he shoved his face under the spout.

He would be damned if Lio saw him cry.

Not that it wasn’t okay that he saw Lio cry, that was totally understandable. That guy had _seen_ some shit. But Galo… Galo was just visually shocked and disturbed that he had done that much damage to someone who he truly loved and admired and would never in a million bajillion years want to actually hurt, but _he had._ It just looked so bad and he was trying _really_ hard not to do this in front of Lio right now. Thank GOD he had decked him in the nose because it was the perfect excuse to be nearly drowning himself in shame and tap water at the moment.

“Galo?” He heard Lio call and echo from the shower stall. There was a sigh and then the screech of the water dial as it turned off.

“No! I-It’s fine Lio,” Galo ground out through the pink stained water in the bowl of the porcelain sink. “You go ahead and finish. I-I’m sorry I barged in on you. It’s not cool, I wasn’t thinking. I’m really sor—”

But before he could finish, he felt Lio’s presence beside him.

Long, pale fingers touched his chin and redirected it up to the rose-tinted gaze that studied Galo’s face intently.

“I don’t think it’s broken, but you should probably have the others check,” Lio sighed softly. His lips were pressed into a concerned frown.

Now Galo _really_ wanted to cry.

“Galo, I’m not mad,” Lio said truthfully, sensing his distress even if he wasn’t exactly sure where it was coming from. “It’s okay, just don’t… don’t surprise me next time, okay?”

When this did nothing to wipe the look of pure torment off Galo’s face, Lio switched tactics.

“I think you ought to sit down for a little bit.”

With that, the former flame fighter took the broad hand of his companion in his own and led him to the bench just outside the showers. He disappeared back into his stall, presumably to change out of the towel that had been hastily wrapped around his tiny waist.

Galo let himself fall back onto the hard, uncomfortable wooden bench with a loud plunk.

Wet lime blonde hair flicked out from beyond the curtain, but returned when he realized Galo was intentionally lying down and not passing out or anything.

Teal eyes stared dazed at the ceiling.

“Lio.”

“Galo,” his friend humored him from the stall. It echoed a bit in the damp room.

“Did I get your burn wrap wet?” Galo asked numbly as he counted the number of ceiling tiles above them.

There was a pause.

“...It’s alright.”

Galo hated himself for being so stupid. He wanted to believe that that was only his untrue self-fulfilling prophecy like Lio said, but there was so much evidence pointing to the fact that he really was just a fucking idiot.

Lio sensed this.

“Will you help me redo it Galo?”

At this, Galo sat up.

“Of course I will,” the blue mohawked firefighter said fervently as he scrunched up his nose, but then immediately regretted it because _that hurt._ He was clutching his face again when he felt the light graze of fingertips on his shoulder blade through his black t-shirt.

“Come on, let’s go get your face taken care of and then you can wrap me up again.”

“Okay.”

With that, Lio helped a still lightheaded Galo to his feet and they rejoined the rowdy crew a few minutes later. There was much debate over who had the best solution to stop a non-broken nose from bleeding, the greatest technique when it came to burn wraps and treatment, and the most savage play style for a game as simple and fun as Sushi Go was supposed to be.

As they finished out the rest of their 24 hour shift at Burning Rescue Unit 3, no one said anything of the conversation they’d had before Galo freaked out and ran off to find Lio. There were a series of unspoken rules in the firehouse that somehow everyone understood, but no one ever explicitly verbalized or acknowledged. Not even Galo.

If you date a teammate, then you better be _damn_ serious about them.

Because the team rises and falls together.

Simply put, Galo could _not_ screw this up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoping you all won't hate me for the small interlude before the date! Haha... The guys had to go work and that just took far too much time for it all to fit in one chapter with breakfast and other shenanigans. It's kind of nice to see some of the crew though, right?
> 
> SO, for sure up next we'll get more one-on-one time with Lio and Galo! Going to delve a little deeper with these two, so I'm looking forward to sharing it with you. <3
> 
> As always, I love hearing from you so let me know what you think!


	6. Holy Glitter Pancakes

There wasn't much about Lio that Galo didn't like. In fact, there was only one thing that he frequently became so annoyed with that he would shave off his own mohawk if that would change anything.

Lio Fotia did not own a cell phone.

He had previously, of course. It was rather difficult to get on in the world without one these days. However, all of those were cheap, temporary burner phones that were far less traceable than a real phone with a data plan and search history. Living in the shadows of society as a Burnish renegade for so long meant that Lio had grown very mistrustful of certain things, many of which Galo was still slowly uncovering. Cell phones were probably just the most inconvenient item in the menagerie of oddities that made Lio who he was after the Great Promare Exodus.

Galo had logged six Lio Fotia numbers in his contacts before he finally caved.

“LIO. _Why_ do you have so many phones? It’s kinda ridiculous, don’t you think?” Galo asked late one quiet overnight shift at Burning Rescue Unit 3.

Lio glanced up from a book in his cozy, curled position on the couch and blinked.

“No,” he said simply. “They just expire often.”

Galo stared at him from the floor and his matoi crafting on the coffee table. Squinting his teal eyes hard with suspicion.

“What do you mean _expire?_ Phones aren’t milk Lio, they’ll stay in pretty good shape as long as you take care of them.”

“Oh. Well, I don’t do that,” Lio said casually as his rose-tinted eyes returned to his hardback and he flipped a page as if that were the end of that.

Galo was never surprised by the fact that he was frequently confused. The familiar disconcerting feeling was almost comforting now (with Lio at least) because it meant he was about to learn something new.

“Lio,” Galo started carefully. He paused his carving knife halfway through a foam cut and a million pieces of debris fibers tufted out across the low table and onto the vinyl tile floor. 

“I don’t understand. Why don’t you take care of your phones? You’re pretty good at keeping your other stuff nice. Hell, my phone is scratched up and all, but I’ve managed to keep it good enough to use the past few years...”

His phone was a piece of shit, but it was _his_ piece of shit. It still worked. He wasn’t going to buy a new one just because of a few minor battle scars. Plus, he had one of those industrial cases now that boasted you could drop it in water or out a moving vehicle and it would still work—both of which he had done and it survived to his great delight and low expectations.

“My 'taking care' and your 'taking care' are two very different things Galo,” Lio said absentmindedly without looking up. He sniffed and turned another page. 

Galo wondered vaguely if he was cold sitting that way with his legs all tucked up underneath him on the sofa. Why didn’t they have blankets or something in here?

“What do you mean? You’re a pretty conscientious guy Lio. I don’t understand how you keep managing to—”

“They burn.”

Galo’s mouth hung open unattractively as his hand slipped from the carving knife which stuck up oddly from the circular piece of foam he was working on.

“UM, _how?”_

“Because I burned them.”

“LIO, _why_ would you do that?!”

At this, the lime blonde sighed keeping a few fingers on his page before folding the cover closed over them.

“Because they served their purpose,” he said simply, staring back at, no, _through_ Galo with tired eyes. It was like he was remembering something that made him sad. 

“Lio, you don’t just up and _burn_ things because you don’t need them anymore,” Galo argued, still trying to wrap his head around why his counterpart looked like he wasn’t really seeing him. Like he was staring off into years of memories that must have been hard in some way because his eyes squinted ever so slightly like it was painful. Physically painful somehow.

“Yes, you do. Well, I do. Or… I did… I don’t know anymore...”

There was silence for a moment.

“Lio?”

“Yes Galo,” the former Burnish answered dutifully. The teeniest tiniest traces of a smile always appeared when he answered this way, even if his face still looked lost.

“Do you need a blanket?”

Lio actually laughed. It was a light and silvery sound that Galo heard rarely, but it made his heart squish hard when he did. He really liked Lio’s company, especially on nights like this when it was just them and the majority of the crew were preoccupied or sleeping in the bunks at the back of the firehouse.

“Galo, you are so distractible,” Lio chuckled affectionately, closing his eyes and half biting his smile to get it to stop. Galo didn’t know why he did that so much. Like he was trying to prevent himself from feeling happy or something.

“Well you look _cold_ , okay?” The blue haired firefighter said leaning on one knee to hoist himself up out of the crafting mess he’d made. “I think I have a hoodie in my locker if you want it. It’s not as good as a blanket, but it’s something.”

“Something. You’re certainly something Galo,” the blonde shook his head and sighed lightheartedly this time. He did still look cold.

“I’m getting you that hoodie,” Galo promised brightly, turning to walk down the corridor that led to the back rooms.

“...Alright. Thank you Galo.”

If Lio had thought he deserved it, he would have said what he really wanted—which was neither a hoodie nor a blanket. 

Luckily, he didn’t have to.

“Here!” His cheerful brawny friend proclaimed as he wrapped the entirely oversized gray zip up around Lio’s shoulders. He was swimming in it, but maybe that was fine because it made it more blanket-like.

“It’s perfect… Thank you,” Lio murmured, feeling the soft cotton fabric on the inside of the huge cuffs. His face did appear genuinely grateful, before it turned melancholy again. 

“What is it?” Galo asked, taking a seat beside him on the couch. He tried to sound level-headed, but he knew he was transparent as fuck so his concern would be evident regardless. Twas the curse of an honest man.

“Oh… it’s nothing. I just…”

Rose-tinted eyes flickered up to meet teal, before they scattered away again.

“What?” 

Galo didn’t understand so many things, but he really, really wanted to.

Lio breathed out lightly from his nose like he was thinking. 

“I guess I’m just still not used to this level of kindness, so… thank you,” he said heavily after a moment.

“You’re not used to being treated like a human?” 

Like most things, this came out of Galo’s mouth before he had a chance to think about how vastly insensitive it probably was.

But Lio understood that by now.

“Yes,” the former flame fighter breathed, trying to swallow the lump in his throat. Bad memories reflected in his eyes and Galo didn't have to be the smartest man on earth to see that.

He did feel like a big idiot though. This was definitely under the category of _things you don’t say to ex-Burnish because it’s pretty obviously on the Burnish sensitivity no-go list, you moron._

“Lio?”

“Yes Galo,” he answered what was becoming their sweet call and return question again.

“Can I give you a hug?”

Lio looked up at him with such an innocent, sincere gaze of wonder and confusion in that terribly ill-fitting old gray hoodie and it absolutely melted his firefighter’s burning soul into a thousand liters of liquid squish.

“You could do that.”

Galo breathed out his relief from anxiety he wasn’t even aware he had and wrapped his broad, muscled arms around the smaller man beside him on the couch. Pulling him carefully into a warm black t-shirted bear hug.

“I wasn’t trying to ask a stupid or… or a mean question Lio,” he said softly into the lime blonde hair that smelled something like cinnamon and the ocean.

“I know...”

“You _are_ human. A-and I don’t really care if you burn your phones—I just, yanno… It’d be nice to be able to _text_ you is all,” Galo babbled, still holding onto him for what was probably an inappropriate amount of time for someone in the friend zone, but he could only focus on one thing at a time.

“Well,” Lio said thoughtfully into Galo's blazingly warm shoulder. “Maybe I'll get a real one someday.”

Galo pulled back smiling that huge shit-eating grin of his.

“Really?”

“Maybe.”

“ _Maybe_. You and your _maybes_ Fotia!”

“We’ll see Galo. We’ll see.”

And that is precisely where they had left it. A cryptic “we’ll see” from Lio, which did absolutely nothing to ease the fact that Galo had been anxiously waiting outside the Spruce Street Diner for a whole six minutes after the time they had agreed to meet for their breakfast date early Saturday morning.

Where _was_ he? Did he get lost? Did he get the day wrong? Or the time wrong? Was he still _coming?_ Galo hoped to high hell that he was because A) this meant _A LOT_ to him due to the fact that they never really got to spend time together outside of work and B) he was _really_ hungry for the goddamn pancakes he’d been thinking about all week. 

It was another five minutes of self-pitying worry before Galo heard it. The deafening scream of rubber tearing across asphalt and echoing up the city buildings a few streets away. 

The firefighter breathed out heavy relief as he peered up the block and waited another few seconds before the sleek, angular and pearlescent body of that heavily-modified, dangerous-looking black motorcycle tore down the street towards him. You could take the flame from the fighter, but not the fighter from the flames. 

Galo couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face as he watched the bike flash towards him, slamming to a precise stop just before it pulled into the tiny parking lot of the vintage diner surrounded by much taller, newer buildings. 

The engine revved and vibrated under the skin tight black leather pants adorned with all sorts of chains, belts, and zippers. Galo so rarely got to see Lio like this because he was always in his Burning Rescue uniform these days. 

Cropped gloved hands braced the three-horned modular power helmet that so much resembled the bodysuit tech he wore before everything happened. Its edges thinly shined with multi-colored neon depending on which way the light was hitting it. Once removed, the shock of signature lime blonde hair that Galo had grown so fond of shook out almost as if it were in slow motion. His soft, lovely features were always such a stark contrast to the hard edges and leather that the blue haired fool loved so much. 

Galo hated that he was so turned on by all of this.

“Hey,” Lio said casually, smiling at the gawking face Galo was unintentionally making. 

He tried to recover.

“Is this thing even street legal?” Galo asked jokingly and slightly higher-pitched than normal. He laughed awkwardly and patted the bike seat behind his friend but then realized that his hand was far too close to his _butt,_ and what the _hell_ was he thinking?

“Mostly,” the blonde grinned a little more devilishly as he ran a few fingers through his chin length hair in order to straighten it out. 

Lio didn’t look like he had noticed anything weird or how hard his friend’s heart was beating in his ribcage, so Galo forgave himself and backed off. He was doing his best not to spring another unexpected boner, but just in case he wore the loosest joggers he had and a baggy hoodie to boot. Actually, he did look rather under-dressed by comparison.

“I wanted to text you, but yanno...” Galo couldn’t help shrugging and grinning back at the vision that was Lio Fotia fresh off his bike in street clothes. Holy ever-loving _shit_ was this man gorgeous. He felt guilty for thinking it, but it was _true_ _._

The lithe little firefighter cut his engine, hit the kickstand with a buckled boot, and swung an entirely too skinny and too leathery leg off the bike. He stretched a bit as he stood up straight.

“Mmm. Well, it can’t be helped,” Lio shrugged, still smirking with dangerously pretty eyes. 

“Actually it _can_ be helped, you just won’t _DO_ anything about it,” Galo laughed shoving his hands inside his hoodie because he didn’t know what to do with them and he also didn’t want them accidentally getting anywhere near Lio’s butt again. He needed to _not_ eff this up today.

“Tch. I told you maybe someday,” the blonde replied, snapping off his half gloves and stowing them in the back compartment of his bike. His burn wrap was gone, replaced by a broad bandage over his palm and several smaller ones around his fingers. Galo wondered very briefly if it hurt to ride with that injury.

However, the visual of Lio snapping off those gloves very quickly distracted him and unfortunately gave way to _other_ visuals in Galo’s mind. He was startled to discover that his brain had stored images like that _anywhere_ because consciously he would _never_ think about Lio in such a lewd—

“Galo, aren’t you starving? Let’s go get your pancakes. I need to understand why they’re the best on the planet,” Lio quipped, gently grabbing a hold of Galo’s bicep through his maroon-colored sports hoodie.

This set off a red alert of hormones and adrenaline that Galo's brain was used to pumping through him when the sirens went off a work, but _holy smokes_ it was a different story when Lio did it to him. 

Lio must have noticed because he stopped pulling and almost let go, glancing back at him with the pre-cursory look that usually came before real concern.

“O-oh! Yea, totally! Let’s pancake! I mean, fuck, let’s breakfast. NO. _EAT._ Let’s _eat,_ ” Galo finally sputtered out in rapid succession. Ugh. He couldn’t do words right now. Lio was just so… so… well, HE was the distractible one!

With that, the two went inside the quaint old diner and sat down at Galo’s favorite vinyl booth all the way in the back by the windows that overlooked the sleepy city street outside. A waitress took their drink orders as they sifted through the exhaustively extensive menu that did in fact appear to have every breakfast item known to man.

“I don’t know how you choose from so many things Galo...”

“Well, what do you feel like eating?”

“I feel like that’s irrelevant.”

“Are you kidding me? It’s not _irrelevant._ It’s literally the only thing that matters Lio,” the blue mohawked man laughed, slapping a hand on the table. 

“What should I be eating Galo?” Lio ignored his previous comment as his rose-colored eyes rapidly scanned the intense litany of options.

“I thought you didn’t like me telling you what to eat,” Galo shot back with a small, ornery smirk on his face.

Lio glared up for a second before reverting his gaze back to the insane number of choices.

“That was _different,_ ” the blonde huffed remembering the half a pizza Galo had pressed on him the weekend before. “I don’t appreciate being forced into food that was never intended for me. It’s wasteful.”

“Aw, alright. Whatever you say boss,” Galo sighed just the tiniest bit, his smile still lingering. He scratched his blue mohawked head wondering what Lio would actually eat here. It wasn’t exactly _healthy_ food, but there certainly were _options_. There had to be something here for him...

“Well, I’M getting the Super Pancake Deluxe Hotstack with extra everything on it! It’s a butt ton of calories, but I’ll work it off later at the gym or something. I don’t care, it’s worth it,” Galo said, feeling his stomach already start to growl.

"Are you going to be able to walk after that?" There was that princely smirk of Lio’s again. 

"Will I be able to walk—PAH! Piece of cake! I've eaten waaaaay more than this before and survived. Ooo! This one time we had a hot dog eating contest to raise money for charity and I fucking _owned_ those noobs Lio. You shoulda seen it!"

"Oh, no. That is…" Lio didn't seem to want to end that thought. Or look him in the eye.

"It's what?" Galo piped a bit defensively. If Lio didn't think he could do it he would order two—NO, _three_ Super Pancake Deluxe Hotstacks to prove him wrong.

"It's putrid Galo," Lio said through a wrinkled look of disapproval. He set down his menu.

"What? What's that even mean?" The blue haired firefighter scrunched his nose up, which still hurt a little bit from getting slogged in the face earlier that week. He had told the team he slipped and fell on it in the bathroom, he just didn't tell them he'd landed on Lio's fist and not the floor.

"Like gross. Disgusting…"

" _Gross?!_ Lio, I did what I HAD to do in order to stuff all those massive hot dogs down my throat and I _WON_ _._ I must have had at least thirty jumbo-sized wei—"

"NO. No, no, Galo I'm good. I don't need visuals," Lio interrupted as his rose-colored eyes cast down mortified into his lap. For some reason he looked like he was trying to contain a blush. He certainly wasn't making any eye contact now, which made Galo feel a little bad. He thought it was a funny story.

"It was for charity…" The brawny hoodied guy threw in again as if that made it less gross. What he didn't realize was how his choice of phallic food competition story-telling was going to haunt Lio for a _very_ long time.

Lio shook his head and smiled wearily just the tiniest bit before he peered up again. A light hush of pink was set on his cheeks.

"Well that's good… That you did it for a cause I mean. I just hate seeing food go to waste in general."

"Why's that?"

Sometimes Galo wished he kept a log of his stupid questions so he knew which ones never to ask ever again.

Lio stared at him as if he had just suggested they go kick a puppy or something, but then it quickly erased into neutral territory.

"Because I've seen a lot of starving people in my life Galo… and I've been one of them too."

Oh.

_Ohhhhhhhh._

Yes, that was probably a pretty obvious thing Galo might have known if he bothered to retain anything of importance in his peanut-sized neanderthal brain. Maybe Lucia was right. Maybe they were all right…

"Whoa. Okay. Yea. That… that's really rough," Galo stammered, trying to swallow the hard knot forming in his throat, but failing at that too. He took a sip of his strawberry lime orange juice spritzer and then rubbed his cheek thoughtfully.

Lio said nothing. He was still staring blankly at the menu, even though he probably already knew what he wanted by now.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that," Galo said sincerely after another moment. "But I know how you feel."

"How would you know that?" Lio said skeptically, but not unkindly. When he didn’t hear an immediate response, he glanced up and then realized Galo was being serious.

"Because I've been there too."

This simple sentence shifted Lio's world sideways. It was dizzying.

"What do you mean?" Lio asked quietly, staring into his teal blue eyes searching for something to tell him that maybe Galo didn’t understand what he was implying. Perhaps his brawny companion thought "hunger" was what he felt driving back from a Burning Rescue house call at 3:45 AM when nothing was open so he couldn’t order any wildly unhealthy and carb-filled food to sate his stomach.

"Well," Galo began carefully. He actually hadn't talked much about this to anyone because he still felt awful pangs of shame and regret and loneliness when he strayed too far back into his past. Galo always tried to look forward in his life.

"I guess… Hm. Did you know I lost my parents in a house fire when I was a kid?" The blue haired firefighter asked bluntly. He didn’t sound upset by this. It was just a fact. Just an honest question.

Lio blinked. 

"I... think I had heard something along those lines, yes," the former Burnish confirmed softly.

"Right so, yea, that sucked… A LOT. But after that I uh…" 

Lio had seen Galo trip on his words plenty of times before, but he had never really seen him struggle this hard to find the right ones. He was thinking before he said them, which was both surprising and a bit concerning.

"Well, they didn't know what to do with me so I ended up in foster care for a while," Galo explained hastily like it would make it any less painful to say if he just hurried through it. 

"So yea, that… that sucked too. But there were a lot of other kids in the house I was placed in and, well, the family didn't get much to actually cover some pretty basic things… Like, I dunno… It was a super shitty situation all around and most of those little guys had come from so much worse off than I did and there just wasn't… enough…"

Lio's heart was crushing in on itself.

"Galo… did… did you not eat because…"

It was something so unselfish, so reckless, so kind, and so Galo-ish that it made total and perfect sense.

"Yea," the mohawked guy admitted quickly scratching the back of his head because he was uncomfortable. Not because Lio made him feel like that, but because he didn’t like remembering that part of his life. "It's like I said, I know how you feel. I really do."

"So you were a hero then too, huh?" Lio tried to smile because he knew if he did then Galo wouldn't be able to help himself. He always lit up when Lio was more positive. 

And he wasn't wrong. The brawny blue haired man did crack a grin upon seeing his own.

"Naw, I was just stubborn! I didn't like to see them cry so it just sort of happened. And I wasn't even there for that long, only a few months before they found my grandpa and sorted out all the legal things."

Thankfully, the tension broke when the cheery waitress came to take their orders. Galo did only get a single order of his extreme hotcakes, although he was prepared to do more if he had to prove anything to Lio. The smaller leather-clad man ordered a spinach omelette with hashbrowns and a side of fruit, which was more than Galo thought his friend could or would eat, but he didn't say anything. Maybe he was learning to keep his big mouth shut sometimes.

The server left their table and the diner hummed with the buzz of happy patrons, families, and oldies music. 

"So you have a grandfather?" Lio asked, genuinely intrigued. He had not heard this piece of information.

"Yea! But Jiji doesn't live in the city anymore, so I don't get to see him as much," Galo explained, slurping more of his fruity carbonated drink and sucking part of soggy strawberry up the wide straw.

"Did he get tired of all the chaos?" Lio mused leaning on one hand. It was rare for him to get to hear so much about Galo's past. Normally Galo was the one trying to figure _him_ out.

"Aw, heck no! He loved it! He was a police officer for forty-five years here in Promepolis. I actually came here to move in with him. He loved this city so much," Galo said as his enthusiasm and smile started to fade.

"What happened then?"

"Well, he… uh, he got shot actually," Galo bit his lip awkwardly and nodded distantly as if he was remembering that, yes, that was a thing that happened whether he wanted to believe it or not. 

"Not that he hadn't been shot before! But it kinda hit him in a bad place and left him partially paralyzed so he was sorta forced into early retirement. We used to joke that he'd be the first centenarian Chief of Police if he could have kept going," Galo laughed lightly at the slightly happier memory.

"Is he… nearby at least?" Lio asked carefully.

"Yea, yea! A few small towns over in Garrun. He just needs help so he's in with a bunch of other old folks, which is actually pretty awesome for him most of the time," the blue haired fool laughed with orneriness now. "He says he hates it, but I know he loves those crazy geezers. Community was always important to him, so as much as he misses city life he's doing pretty good for himself out there. He organizes things and he's a pretty funny dude so it's hard not to like him even if he's kinda bristly sometimes."

"You sound like you miss him Galo," Lio noted, locking soft eyes with him.

"Sure I do!" Galo smiled broadly. "But I’m where I need to be. I'm kinda following his journey, yanno? I'm becoming the man that I should be and carrying on the family legacy of service and whatknot."

"So why aren't you a police officer then?" Lio couldn't help himself from asking. It was very hard not to imagine how amazing Galo would look in a fitted cop uniform.

"Would _you_ trust me with a gun, Lio Fotia?" 

The former flame fighter peered up at him. They locked eyes intensely, rose to teal, for a moment and then both burst out laughing.

This didn't stop for nearly a full minute and drew a few stares from other nearby booths.

"Phew, boy!" Galo chuckled wiping a tear from his eye. "I thought I had you there for a second Lio! Pffftt! Me with a gun. Yea, like _never._ Even pop didn't want me anywhere near those things. He said it wasn't in my spirit to hurt people like that, even if sometimes it's necessary to protect others."

"Is it though?" Lio asked running a hand through his lime blonde hair and trying to kill his smile because this was actually quite a serious hot button issue. "I don't think they're necessary at all. They only hurt and take life. They don't care who is on the other side."

"Yea, you're not wrong there," Galo agreed easily. "I dunno. I went into firefighting because I wanted to just save people, yanno? I didn't ever want to be in a position to really injure or mess anyone up like Jiji got messed up."

It was at that moment that their plates of warm, fresh breakfast food arrived. A bright yellow omelette flecked with spinach greens, peppers, and tomato along with the sides appeared before Lio while a gigantic heaping stack of pancakes the size of Galo’s face were placed in front of him.

"Why…” Lio began curiously, wrinkling his eyebrows. “Galo, why are your pancakes sparkling?”

The lime blonde stared at the ridiculously tall stack of chocolate chip hotcakes across from him that were topped with whipped cream, sprinkles, butter, and dusted with fucking _glitter._

"Isn't it the _coolest?"_ Galo laughed tearing into all eight layers with his fork as he applied a disgusting amount of syrup on top of that absurd, artery-clogging, calorie mountain.

Lio realized his mouth had been hanging open and quickly closed it.

"You're going to be shitting glitter for days Galo," he commented once he found his composure and words again. 

“Well, maybe! But who cares? It’s not like my ass is going on public display or anything. So is it worth it? Definitely!” 

Again, Lio had to avert his gaze (thankfully to his full plate and fork this time) so that he could attempt to control the dirty thoughts that Galo kept unceremoniously shoving into his brain. Of course he knew it was by accident because the honest firefighter didn’t think far enough in advance to filter his mouth. 

His fucking innocently filthy hot dog-sucking mouth.

It was actually a very good meal all things considered. Lio did enjoy his choice even if he didn’t enjoy laboring over it, and Galo devoured all eight insanely glittery and decked out pancakes. He had offered some to Lio, who politely declined. Although he did enjoy watching him eat because Galo would get this cute look of gratified satisfaction and gratefulness when he was tucking into something he found particularly yummy. It was the same look he’d had last weekend with the pizza and sometimes it was the look he noticed on Galo’s face when he talked about Lio to other people and didn’t know he was listening.

After they’d had their fill, Galo paid for the both of them and they walked slowly out to the front of the diner. The hoodied firefighter was once again reluctant to end their time together so early in the day. He loved this time with Lio and it physically hurt him to part sometimes, especially when he had absolutely nothing else he’d rather be doing in the whole world. His chest began to ache with that familiar temporary loss of companionship.

Lio was sorting through his storage on the back of his black motorcycle when Galo let out an uncharacteristically heavy sigh.

“What’s the matter Galo?”

“Ah!” He hadn’t realized the sigh was out loud and not in his head. 

“Oh, well, uh… I dunno. I just had a good time with you today. Thanks for coming out with me,” Galo covered, forcing a sweet smile up at Lio who snapped on one half glove.

“I did too.” Lio’s rosy eyes caught the look of hesitation on his friend’s face. “Thanks for suggesting it. And for paying. You didn’t need to do that, you know.”

“Aw, I wanted to. I’m just happy you came,” the blue haired fool shrugged and glanced down at Lio’s boots. The boots that would leave him any moment now. The boots that could kick his ass in a fight if they really wanted to.

“So then why do you look so sad, big guy?”

This was hard to answer. 

Because he didn’t want Lio to go.

Because he wanted to laugh and share more with him.

Because he wished he could do this every day.

“Just wish we had a little more time together I guess!” Galo forced an awkward laugh as he brushed shaky fingers through his blue mohawk.

“Oh. Well… are you busy or something?”

“WHAT? No, I’M not busy, _you’re_ busy!” Galo said quickly. “Wait, are you busy?”

“No. Not particularly,” Lio shrugged, throwing a skinny leathered leg over his bike and starting the engine. 

_“Really?”_ Galo gawked. He couldn’t believe this. There was no way.

“Really,” the former Burnish smiled that sly, knowing grin of his. “You should get on Galo.”

Those words sent a million crazy butterflies through Galo’s stomach and down into his pants. How the _fuck_ could he get on THAT bike with THAT man and not pop a boner? Surely it was impossible. He didn’t want to risk it.

“I’d like to take you for a ride,” Lio went on temptingly. “Unless you’re scared of riding with me or something.”

“SCARED? Lio Fotia, have you ever known ME to be scared of anything?” Galo squawked in semi-fake outrage. He wasn't _scared_. Who did Lio think he was?! “You have an extra helmet or are you all talk?” 

Lio dug into his bike’s storage and pulled out a half helmet with no visor that was good enough to keep his brains in if he fell off.

“Perfect!” Galo said jamming it on and squishing his blue hair down and out the front. He hitched up his thick leg and straddled the seat behind his much smaller friend.

“Perfect,” Lio echoed as he sank his three-horned custom helm over his lime blonde hair and revved the engine. “You’re going to have to hold onto me if you don’t want to go flying Galo."

With that, he coaxed the broad, calloused hands to his hips and encouraged him to hold on tight. They peeled out of the parking lot, zipping and speeding down the inner city streets far more expertly than Galo ever did on his own bike. 

Lio grinned slightly from behind his angular shining headgear. He felt the large hands grip him tighter around the waist as an impressive bulge dug lightly into his lower back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe that was a bit heavy for breakfast conversation, but these sort of things happen when you start becoming close to someone, don't they? 
> 
> Hopefully you enjoyed what was more or less their first intentional date! But wait... where are they going? It's not over just yet! Where is Lio taking him??
> 
> Anyway, let me know what you think! Feedback is always appreciated friends. :)


	7. Sparks in the Storm

Actually riding with Lio Fotia turned out to be very different from the fantasies Galo Thymos previously had about finally snagging the seat behind the ex-Burnish on his sleek as hell power bike.

Sometimes when it was a particularly slow and boring day at the firehouse, Galo's mind would wander into sweet daydreams of doing things together with Lio, particularly joyriding. 

Either his leather clad companion would let him ride on his insanely tricked out jet black and neon shimmering motorcycle or he’d be riding alongside him on his own crimson and charcoal aluminum-framed crotch rocket. In his head they’d be cruising along the ocean as he casually and confidently held onto Lio, yelling jokes into his ear through the warm wind as Lio laughed with him. Or sometimes they’d be racing each other through the city late at night, the lights blurring by as the adrenaline and speed coursed hot through their veins. Of course he’d let Lio win _sometimes,_ and other times he would make sure to rub it in his beautiful pouty face.

But none of that was anything compared to the death-defying shit Lio was pulling right now.

Galo was neither cool nor casual as he desperately clutched onto the tiny belt and leather-studded frame in front of him who was zipping lightning fast in between urban mid-morning weekend traffic and cutting the line at lights where he’d slam on the breaks at the last possible second. He didn’t think Lio was a _bad_ driver, but… 

But quite frankly he was scaring the piss out of Galo. 

Not literally of course, but that could very well change if Lio cut off one more fucking delivery truck and THAT would be an awful way to end their first _official_ -official date.

“LIO! — YOU’RE GOING — HOW’RE — FAST — SHIT — CAN YOU — YAH KNOW?”

Lio was only catching every other word or so coming out of Galo’s rambling mouth as they sped through a yellow light just in time to take the on-ramp up to the main highway through Promepolis. 

The wind thrashed around them even faster as he revved the gas to get around the cars hogging the merge and middle lanes, sending the roadway beneath them and the skyscrapers alongside into blurred disarray. Galo’s huge hands and thick hoodied arms were now grasping so tightly and completely around his waist that they were riding up over his omelette full stomach and rib cage. 

At first it was kind of cute to feel a big, hulking guy like Galo get freaked out over something as simple as his love for speed, but very soon it was hard to breathe and also a little painful because he still had the gnarly bruises on his chest from their exercise in not dying the weekend before. It certainly wasn’t the _ideal_ sort of physical activity or marking that Lio ultimately would like from a certain blue haired someone, but then again he didn’t think he deserved _that_ kind of affection from him anyway. This was enough. This short-lived fantasy escape into a little pocket world of their own before he had to return to his own dark thoughts in his own dark place with his own dark problems.

Lio tried to push those feelings away, which turned out to be far easier than usual because the big mohawked dummy really wasn’t letting up on the rib crushing...

So the lithe little firefighter tried to pry Galo’s grip down more towards his belted waist, but he just wasn’t _budging_ for some weird reason. Lio knew that he couldn’t hear his slightly exasperated sigh through the intimidating three-horned helm or the air whipping past them, but it came out none-the-less. Luckily, he had endured far worse pain in his life so this was complete and utter child’s play by comparison. Also, a panicked, clingy Galo was a rather amusing thing to witness since it was a far cry from his normal overconfident, can-do, superhero-like persona. 

A vehicle somewhere behind them laid on a horn as Lio tried to break and then cut over to get around the truck that was stubbornly going the speed limit in the fast lane.

If Galo thought he was pissing his pants minutes before, he wondered what the insane, gut-lurching feeling of highway-level Lio Fotia was going to do to him. In addition to the _very_ reckless and skillful maneuvers, the lime blonde kept pressing down insistently on his arm with one useless half gloved hand. However, Galo wasn't going to budge—not _one freaking centimeter—_ until the bike was fully stopped and the engine killed. It was as if Lio wanted Galo to let go of him or WORSE move his hands and arms down and there was NO WAY he would be getting that close to Lio's pants region on a first date. He wasn’t that kind of guy (he didn’t think) and it was bad enough he was ass to crotch with him riding right now as he clung on for his dear burning firefighter’s soul. 

To the brawny man’s immense relief, Lio took the first exit out of the city and slowed down considerably. 

There wasn't much traffic on this route as the two lane highway headed towards the cloudy mountains in the distance past a few suburban neighborhoods followed by autumn changing fields of crops. The blue haired fool sighed deeply, appreciating the gratuitous amounts of space between vehicles and the much lower speedometer reading. Ever so slightly he loosened his grip and felt the smaller body in front of him exhale quickly and then take a sharp breath in, like he had been holding it or something. Like maybe he was somehow uncomfortable or in pain or—

 _“FUCK!”_ Galo yelled through his squashed face against Lio’s leather-jacketed shoulder blade.

At this, the lime blonde jolted beneath him from the unexpected volume and the bike urgently jerked to the side of the road as cars zoomed past their slowing transport. 

“You okay?!” Lio called loudly over his shoulder as the wind started to die down. His heart was pounding madly in his aching chest. 

They came to a halt and the engine rumbled angrily like an impatient wild beast waiting for its moment to spring back into action and continue tearing down the asphalt. The pierced ears beyond the lime blonde hair were ringing with a single high-pitched note.

“Am I hurting you?” Galo asked sympathetically above the roar of the motorcycle. His face was still squished against the leather back of his companion even though he had loosened his grip up considerably.

The engine-filled silence was taken as a “yes.”

 _“Fuck,_ I’m SO sorry!” Galo exclaimed before Lio could properly get a word in edgewise.

“It’s fine,” the lime blonde said, the sound muffled through his full cover helmet. He tried to shift his view behind him and caught the guilty, child-like expression in the teal eyes that stared pitifully back at him over his shoulder.

Lio tipped his shining black visor up revealing the violent contrast of his sincere rose-tinted gaze surrounded by the dark and dangerous-looking angles. The three thick horns of the helm glimmered in the quick moment of sunshine, before clouds covered them again. The sky was full of rolling gray formations casting them in a moody, filtered light.

“You don’t like going fast, do you?” 

Galo was taken aback by the sudden change in subject.

“What?! I totally DO Lio, but _your_ fast and _my_ fast are super different!” He piped defensively. The broad hands let go of Lio completely now that he fully realized they were just idling in the shoulder.

With the visor up Galo could see that mischievous smirk flicker across his friend’s face again.

“I removed the speed limiter.”

“You _WHAT?”_ Galo gawked, unable to stop himself from shoving Lio’s shoulder a little in disbelief.

Lio wasn’t expecting that otherwise he wouldn’t have lurched forward as much from the force. He elbowed him back hard in retaliation.

“You heard me Thymos. It’s gone.”

“Do you have a death wish or something? Is that even _legal?”_ Galo continued skeptically. He glanced down hesitantly at the motorcycle and suddenly felt even less prepared for their date than before. Maybe he ought to have known to BYOB to breakfast? (In Galo’s mind this always meant “bring your own bike” because why on earth would it mean anything else?)

“Maybe…” The lime blonde shrugged, tipping his visor back down. “You’d better hold on tight again if you want to make it to the mountains Galo.”

With that, Lio quickly positioned Galo’s hands to the sides of his hips (intentionally away from his stomach and chest) and switched gears. The thunderous engine revved with glorious enthusiasm and ripped them back on the highway, leaving Galo to clench his teeth, close his eyes, and awkwardly wonder which question Lio meant his answer for. 

Maybe the mod wasn't totally legal? Or maybe he really had a death wish?

—

Twenty minutes later, Lio had gotten them into the mountains without further incident. The motorcycle was handling the altitude and inclines better than Galo’s own bike, which was pretty surprising because power and speed didn’t necessarily always fit in the same package. Usually you’d have to choose what was most important to you and sacrifice some other aspects in order to get it. 

Which made him wonder just _how much_ Lio’s bike had been modded and who had done it. 

No offense to Lio, but he wasn’t _exactly_ the most handy person at Burning Rescue. Sometimes Galo would do his own simple maintenance on his bike or the fire trucks while Lio hung out to keep him company. However, he never got the impression that the former Burnish knew how to service a vehicle or even identify basic tools. 

Like this one time when Galo was bent full over into the hood and greasy mess of their Unit 3 Command SUV as Lio sat in the front seat with the door open and patiently listened to him rant about how he totally didn’t break the goddamn thing just because it started acting up when he drove it. But when Galo stopped bitching long enough to ask Lio to grab him a 19mm flex head wrench out of his tool bag on the ground of the vehicle bay, Lio just stared and blinked as if he were speaking another language. This and many other similar, subtle instances of vehicular naivety made Galo come to one exciting conclusion.

Lio had a _garage._

And not just _any_ garage shop, but one that would be willing to take on super specific and maybe morally-questionable requests. Not that Galo wanted to mod anything _illegally_ , but there were _some_ things he’d always wanted to do to supe up his ride and this new revelation made him all the more determined to find out Lio’s source. They just needed to make it to wherever they were going and then he would be able to interrogate the heck out of the speed demon in front of him. 

Galo imagined bright swaths of speed-induced multi-color flame engulfing them as Lio rounded the next switchback along the tall dark pines and took a right down a narrow wooded dirt road.

This place was all too familiar. 

After a few moments of processing his surroundings, Galo finally understood where they were going—he just couldn’t believe that the ex-Burnish fighter would take them back here.

It had been a little over six months since they’d visited the lake. The place where they finally got to talk. The place where they both bore witness to the suffering of that poor woman. The place where they first became a real team. It was surprisingly a little emotional for Galo to be back here now.

The trees whipped past them as the bike roared echoing through the sleepy alpine forest. There was ground built up on both sides of the road making it one of the more challenging places to turn around if you happened to be driving a car. Not that Galo ever brought any of their Burning Rescue vehicles up here, but he used to frequent the lake on his own bike whenever he was frustrated or needed some time alone to think or blow off steam. The brawny firefighter wondered why they were coming back here after all this time.

For some weird reason Lio seemed to be picking up speed, which made Galo curiously peek over his shoulder and immediately regret it.

Coming up fast before them was a massive wooden barricade fence with bright yellow caution streamers tattered and taped across it and they were absolutely going to hit it.

_“LIO, WHAT’RE YOU—”_

But before Galo could finish his thought or piss his pants, the former flame fighter slammed on the gas and drove the bike into the area where there should have been a ditch but wasn’t, and then went terrifyingly horizontal along the border ground that was built up on the edge of the woods and road. A heart-stopping second later he veered back onto the road beyond the makeshift fence, setting the motorcycle straight again as it continued to zoom towards the still waters just beyond the pines.

Galo was impressed. Horrified for sure, but impressed.

Another minute later down by the water, Lio finally cut the engine stopping the flaming mad joyride that had defied all of Galo’s expectations and left his guts back at the barricade.

“You alright, big guy?” Lio asked muffled through his helmet as he started to unlatch it. 

Silence.

“Galo?”

Galo exhaled deeply. 

“God, that was NUTS Lio! Where the _hell_ did you learn to ride like that?” The blue haired fool asked incredulously trying to process what had just happened.

Just then, lush lime blonde hair released from the much too hard and dangerous looking helmet, wafting an intoxicating scent of lemon sage shampoo mixed with his normal leather and expensive-smelling body fragrance right into Galo’s face.

“You pick up a thing or two when people are always chasing you,” Lio explained evenly, snapping off his half gloves and cocking his head back to stare with curious rose-tinted eyes. 

“Do you… want to go for a walk?” 

It was then that Galo realized he was still clinging onto his friend for dear life or comfort or something to help him stabilize his blood pressure.

“OH! Uh, ha, yea! Yea! Of course, let’s go!” The embarrassed firefighter laughed awkwardly as he shoved himself away from his companion and hopped off the bike. He hastily took off the half helmet and regretted not being able to check himself out in a city shop or car door window to see if his hair still looked okay. 

When Lio was busy stowing away their gear, Galo full on licked his entire palm and tried to sculpt his blue mohawk up into its proper erect state.

After all this time, the lake still looked the same.

Galo had expected there to be _something_ , _anything_ here as evidence of what had happened that day early last spring when it was all still mostly frozen, but it looked just as normal as it always had. He wondered if that was the Promepolis city government’s doing or if this was another example of old man Deus’s clever scheming. 

Regardless, it was nice to see it again. Of course spring had finally melted it all, summer had come and gone, and now the lake was liquid and very still among the pines and trees of nameless-origin that were starting to shift color in accordance with the cooler weather. The dark clouds and mountains loomed over the forest on all sides, protecting this secluded place with their silent watchful gaze. It was an excellent spot for a hideaway. Maybe that old boring geezer was right about more things than he realized.

“I thought maybe you’d want to come back here,” Lio said quietly as they walked along the water’s edge. There was a slight wind playing with his chin length hair, which he folded behind one triangle-pierced ear. The earth and leaves crunched beneath their feet.

“Why’s that?” Galo asked curiously. He honestly assumed, correctly much to his intuitive delight, that this area was off limits just like the ship and the other quarantined spaces where shit had gone down. 

“Closure, maybe?” Lio offered, shrugging his leather jacket which was keeping his hands warm now.

“Closure from what?”

“I don’t know Galo. Maybe from me KO’ing your ass in the cave.”

“HUH? No _WAY,_ man! You could only do that because you caught me off guard! If it were a _real_ fight I would have kicked your scrawny butt from here to the other side of the lake and back,” Galo boasted using vigorous chopping hand gestures and sucker punches.

Lio grinned wryly. 

“You have a lot of confidence for someone who could barely handle a motorcycle ride.”

 _“Excuse me?”_ The blue haired fool squawked with open-mouthed offense.

“I’m just saying you were hanging on _awfully_ tight Galo.”

“Because YOU were driving like a bat out of hell Lio!”

“A dragon.”

“Uh… a what?”

“A dragon. A dragon out of hell, not a bat.”

Galo peered over at his companion slightly confused and then realized there were the traces of a tiny smirk on his face.

“Oh, you are _SO_ funny Lio,” the mohawked guy laughed generously, shoving his shoulder and grinning widely. “Okay, dragonboy. Spill it. Tell me your secret.”

“What secret?” Lio asked innocently, nudging him back with his shoulder and flicking his gaze over to Galo who looked so sweet against the ripples of the cloud-reflected lake and the mountains in the distance. It was misting now.

“Don’t play dumb with me Lio,” Galo warned, his voice turning serious as he stopped and stared deeply into Lio’s slightly concerned features.

 _“Who’s your mechanic?”_ He whispered, squinting his suspicious teal blues.

To which, Lio legitimately laughed at. 

Like, _really_ laughed at. 

The rolling beautiful, breathless laughter echoed out onto the water and through the woods much to Galo’s heart-squishing delight. He had _never_ heard Lio let go like this before. He didn’t even think what he said was that funny, but apparently it had struck a silly bone with the ex-Burnish because he was palming off what appeared to be an actual _tear_ from his eye.

 _“Lio!_ Don’t laugh! I’m serious! Tell me who mods your bike! Come oooooooon,” Galo begged, trying not to smile himself even though that was impossible because Lio just kept bubbling over with rolling amusement. He wished he could listen to this sound forever.

“Galo of _all_ the things in this world you could want to know about me, it’s _who is my mechanic?”_ The lime blonde tried to stifle himself with the back of his hand. 

“Well, that’s just _one_ of the things! And a man’s mechanic is _sacred_ Lio! Especially one who removes your freaking speed limiter like he knows and trusts your skills enough to NOT feel bad about it.” 

Suddenly, Galo felt a pang of jealousy. Had this dude ALSO ridden with Lio before? Who the hell was he? Was he _just_ his mechanic or something more? Ugh. This was super _not_ cool to think about...

“How do you know they're a he?”

_Fuck._

“Whaaaaa—I don’t mean it like that Lio! Are they a she? What’s her name? Where’s the garage?” Galo backpedaled hard. Of _course_ it could be a she. Galo knew a _butt ton_ of brilliant technical women like Aina and Lucia and other first responders and gearheads he’d met over the past few years. He didn’t mean to sound like some pig-headed _bigot!_

“Ohhh, I’m definitely not telling you now Thymos,” Lio shook his head smiling satisfactorily to himself as he continued on around the bend of the lake and the mist thickened in the air around them.

“Liooooo, nooooo! Come on! You know what I meant! Who is she? When did she take out your limiter? Tell meee!” Galo trailed after him feeling mega stupid. Score one for the popular Galo Thymos #1 idiot prophecy.

Lio kept teasing and Galo kept begging as they meandered for a while over fallen trees and water-logged soil and rocks. The clouds had been building all morning, so it shouldn't have been a surprise when they felt the first few raindrops and heard the low growl of thunder in the distance.

"Oh. Rain? Well that's bummer," Galo finally noticed, peering up at the sky as it darkened and rogue droplets hit his face. "Did you know it was going to rain, Lio?"

It began to fall steadier as Lio hiked up the collar of his jacket.

"Let's wait in here for a bit."

The blue haired fool glanced over to see that Lio had found the mouth of the cave. Like, _THE_ cave. But sensing that the ex-Burnish would take no issue with leaving his ass out in the storm he hurried after him, the water beginning to soak into his hoodie.

Predictably, it was cold inside the cave, but also a great deal drier. Lio was just about done shaking his hair out as Galo charged in running, laughing (for whatever reason), and dripping like an overexcited wet dog. He flung his damp blue tresses back out of his face and glanced over towards a slightly annoyed looking Lio. The lime blonde flicked the new water off his cheek sourly.

"Lio, you look like you've seen a ghost or something," Galo quipped as he stripped off his wet hoodie down to his gray v-neck underneath, revealing a small belted side bag below that. His body ran hot, so he wasn't going to keep a gross wet sweater on, even in here.

"I've seen many ghosts," Lio said quietly, turning to stare at the downpour that was padding in a chorus of soft, rhythmic thuds against the soil and the lake outside.

Galo bit his lip. 

"Are you…" 

He wasn't sure if he should say it, but this whole thinking before talking thing was still really new to him...

"Are you thinking about her Lio? That girl? The one who…"

He didn't need to say it. She was one of the first things he had thought about too once he understood where they were going.

“She had a name.”

“Oh! I mean... of course she did. I didn’t mean it to sound like she didn’t…”

He was two-for-two on the perceived misogyny front today. Drats!

"She seemed really nice, Lio. I didn't know her very well, but she actually meant a lot to me too."

The scars on his arm beneath his white stretchy compression sleeve stung as he remembered. He would never forget her face no matter how long he lived.

"I didn't know her," Lio explained flatly. There was a sharpness to his voice that hadn't been there a moment before. 

"Oh… but she, wasn't she with you guys? How'd you not know her?"

"She was Burnish. That's all we needed to know."

"Oh."

The rain fell heavier in the silence between them. 

"Lio?"

"Yes, Galo."

"It... wasn't your fault."

Somewhere in the sky outside there was a low rumbling of thunder and a flash of light.

Lio wouldn't look at him.

"Lio?" Galo tried again, taking a step closer but now the lime blonde wasn't saying anything. Just staring away from him at the sounds of steady falling water.

"Lio, hey…" The brawny firefighter took another step closer to him and very lightly grazed his elbow with cautious fingers, causing his friend to jump, surprised at the unexpected touch. 

Lio stared wild for a moment at him, through him. Seeing things Galo couldn't. Horrible things.

"You okay?" Galo said empathically. "You wanna sit for a bit? I could make a fire."

"I…"

Lio looked like he wanted to respond, but also like he had forgotten where he was or what they were doing there. Suddenly the lithe blonde's hand clutched around Galo's blazing forearm as something else painfully pierced across his face.

"I can't make it anymore," Lio said in such a certain heartbroken tone that Galo wanted to launch himself deep into space and home again if that would bring the Promare back to erase his pain.

"I-I know Lio. I know. It's okay though, I can show you," Galo said optimistically. 

"Really?"

"Really," Galo smiled with the light of hope that Lio didn't feel. 

They were close now. Physically. Very close. Galo hadn't realized their proximity until he felt Lio's breath on his face and smelled that sagey lemony goodness from his hair again. Lio was still grasping his molten hot bicep, which was unconsciously flexing because of it. His pink lips were so near Galo’s own that only the slightest change in angle, height, or distance would make all the world of difference in their relationship (whatever that was anymore). Galo didn't precisely feel the need to define it, but he did want to understand what _was_ and _wasn't_ okay to do because he liked Lio, like _a lot_ , and kept feeling these urges to protect him and hold him and press his lips against the serious little blonde’s own in moments like these when they were _so close_ and so—

A deafening crack of thunder ricocheted through the cave, snapping both of them apart instantly as Galo let out an almost equally deafening scream. 

A moment later they were panting breathlessly in the dim blue cave light, staring out at the storm as more flashes lit the rocks and reeds outside. 

"Holy shit that was loud," Galo huffed with wild teal eyes that turned to look at Lio who was clutching his chest and shaking his head in disbelief.

" _It_ was loud? Galo, you sounded like our Class A tiller when Lucia's in the hot seat," Lio chided him, rolling his rose-colored eyes.

"LIO. Fotia. Do NOT compare me to that little pipsqueak's shotty, loud-ass driving skills!" Galo protested defiantly, throwing his huge built arms into a pouty cross body huff. 

"Wait, did you just..."

Now Galo wasn't sure he had been giving Lio enough credit. The formerly presumed vehicular novice just correctly identified one of their massive heavy-duty aerial fire and rescue vehicles AND the teammate who drove it the least responsibly (in Galo's humble opinion). 

"Thymos, we both know there's someone _else_ who is significantly louder than her, so just take it as a low-grade burn," Lio smirked, running a few fingers through his hair to tuck it behind his ear again.

Galo did not know anyone else who drove with the sirens at nearly full blast octane. Unless Lio was referring to…

"WHOA, hey now Lio, _not_ cool! I am NOT the loudest driver! Not by a long shot!"

Lio wouldn’t stop smirking.

"Then why did Ignis stop letting you drive?"

"He _didn't,_ actually, for your information, _Lio,"_ Galo sassed taking a seat on the cold ground and fiddling with the pack that was attached to his waist above his joggers. It looked very strange to see the combination of such casual wear along with Galo's standard emergency fanny pack.

"What are you doing?" Lio asked curiously as Galo began to pull out various items.

"What's it look like? I'm going to make a fire."

"This is how you make fire?"

"No, we need dry sticks too. My fire starter stuff will only get us so far. Can you go find some?" Galo explained distractedly as he unclipped the flint and steel and laid out a few of his backup kindling wood nuggets.

"Alright."

So Lio did his best to try to find sticks and brush that had been whisked by the wind into the cave while Galo started shaving the magnesium over what he had. 

“This is how us normies do it Lio,” the mohawked fool explained once Lio had added his pine limbs, tinder, and random sticks to the small pile Galo had going already.

“If you get some of the magnesium on there first it’ll light faster. And then you just take the flint and steel and go at it until you get a spark!” 

“Go at it... until you get a spark?” Lio repeated. He was hunched over the little fire pit with his arms wrapped around his legs, refusing to sit on the earth but still seeming engaged in what he was doing.

“Yea! Like this!” 

The brawny firefighter struck the two materials hard against each other.

“Nothing happened,” Lio stated bluntly.

“Well… sometimes you have to do it a lot,” Galo said wrinkling his nose. He struck it again and again and again to the tune of no sparks. Five minutes later he was not only very frustrated, but his fingers were starting to go numb because it was legitimately cold in the cave. 

“Can I try?” 

Galo looked up and softened his leftover glare from the stupid tools when he saw Lio’s laser-focused eyes.

“Sure.”

Lio took the flint and steel from him, cocked them close to the burn material, and struck the steel so fast that Galo blinked and totally missed it.

What he did not miss was the fizzle of a few sparks that succeeded it.

“LIO! _You got sparks!_ Oh my god! Do it again! Do it again!” Galo boomed with echoing laughter as he got on all fours to watch with ecstatic excitement.

“Back up a little Galo, you don’t want to get it in the face,” Lio tried not to grin at his companion’s childish delight. 

“If it’s your sparks Lio, I’ll take em to the face any day. Do it. Do it. Do it!” Galo chanted, biting his lip and waiting with unbridled anticipation gleaming in his huge gleeful eyes. 

Feeling slightly exasperated that he’d probably have to deal with Galo burning off his eyebrows, Lio reluctantly struck the steel once more with incredible speed sending more than a few sparks flying this time. They glowed on the tinder and Galo let out a shout of pure delight as he hopped over it, cupping the baby embers in his huge hands as he blew on them gently.

“They’re going to go out Galo,” Lio said sadly as he watched his friend try in vain to keep them alive.

“No, they’re not,” Galo argued as he continued to breathe life into them. He wasn’t going to let them die, these were Lio’s sparks after all.

Much to Mr. Fotia’s surprise, Mr. Thymos did not give up. And in not giving up, the sparks began to spread giving birth to the cutest, tiniest fire he very well may have ever seen in his life.

Winded, Galo peered up at him from the ground with his somehow dirt covered face and huge shit-eating grin.

“I _told_ you Lio!” The blue haired dummy teased in singsong. 

The lime blonde offered him a small smile as a reward for his efforts. 

“You certainly did.”

“Now how about it, huh?” Galo was biting his lip again, trying (poorly) to contain his enthusiasm.

“How about what?” Lio raised an eyebrow. 

“We have a fire, we have each other, we apparently have time,” the big kid-like firefighter mused glancing over at the rain. “So why don’t you tell me all about your shop Lio! Who’s doing your maintenance?”

Lio wanted very much to say something inappropriate, but unlike Galo he DID have a filter and would _not_ say something like that aloud.

“You save a few tiny sparks and you think you get the keys to the kingdom don’t you, hot shot?” Lio teased as his face was lit with the warm glow of the little flames. His flames. He had flames again thanks to Galo.

“Look, I’m not entitled to _anything_ —I know that! I just want to know who’s been checking out your gears, aligning your wheels, changing your fluids—”

“Galo. Galo, I get it,” Lio’s face burned as he tried not to make eye contact by staring at the ceiling made of gray blue rocks. 

“—inspecting your tread, charging your batteries, buffing your body—”

 _“Galo_ , shut _UP,”_ the ex-Burnish tried to contain his embarrassed smile by shoving his companion’s shoulder hard across the flames. 

“—jacking up your—”

_“GALO.”_

“—lubricating your—”

“DETROIT!”

Galo stopped his inane, suggestive maintenance listing to blink at his burning flushed red, leather-wrapped friend.

“Her name is Detroit?” 

“My _bike’s_ name is Detroit.”

Well now, that was _something._

“Why’s its name Detroit?” Galo asked grinning to himself because it felt like he won the tiff even if it wasn’t precisely the information he wanted. 

“Because I grew up there. It fit her, so that’s her name.”

“We’re talking ‘her’ as in your bike and not ‘her’ as in your mechanic, right?” Galo pointed at him from the hand that was grasping his chin in contemplation.

“Her as in my bike,” Lio clarified, shaking his head at the ridiculous conversation they were having.

“Well, I enjoyed riding her with you Lio,” the goofy blue haired fool gave him a more genuine smile now. One that reached his eyes. “I hope we can do it again sometime. If you want.”

The lime blonde’s gaze flickered up to him from the flames. 

“I’d like that.”

“I’ll bring my own bike next time,” Galo promised. “We could have a race or something!”

Just then, there was a shift in Lio’s face that Galo didn’t quite understand.

“You don’t want to race me Galo,” the former flame fighter said dangerously low.

“Why not? You think just because you don’t have a speed limiter anymore that I can’t whoop your ass in a race?” Galo challenged him. He’d very much like to compete with Lio again. It had become one of his favorite things.

“No,” Lio said softly with flames dancing in his rose-colored eyes. “I don’t think. I _know_ you can’t handle the type of racing we do.”

Galo scrunched up his nose.

“Who’s we?”

“Me and the boys.”

“What? Gueira and Meis? Do they race too?”

“Oh, yes,” the lime blonde said in that same strange tone. Like he was eager to be on his bike, but also like he was eager for something else.

“Well, let me know next time and I can join you guys! I haven’t seen those dudes in forever man. We can make it a thing and get like food and beer and shit afterwards.”

“When you’re done the kind of racing we do, Galo,” Lio explained as he glanced out at the clap of thunder and lightning that echoed through the cave. “You’ll wish you removed your limiter too.”

Galo did not really understand what he meant. What he did understand was that Lio did not wholly say yes OR no to him racing with them in the future, which he took to mean that he could totally tag along next time they were meeting up. 

“I don’t need mods to kick your sweet ass Lio. You name the place and time and I’ll be there,” Galo promised.

“We’ll see,” the ex-Burnish said wistfully. 

Lio Fotia and his “we’ll sees” would be the death of him one day, but Galo didn’t pay any mind to this because it meant that Lio wanted to spend more time with him outside of work—and _that_ meant he didn’t completely fuck up their date!

Feeling like he’d won something intangibly important, Galo enjoyed the rest of their time spent by that little fire, in that cave of memories, on the mountains that seemed to bring them together time and time again. Lio’s sparks were still alive and Galo would save them as many times as he needed to in order to make things right again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still alive, we're still alive folks! Got caught up in a few other fics along with the madness of this pandemic, but now we're back in action with these two pretty auto nerds. Hope you find it was worth the wait. As always, thanks for reading and if you liked it let me know what you think!
> 
> Stay safe out there people. <3


	8. Robots & Starfire

"Soooo…?"

"So what?" Lio asked in monotone as he chopped greens on the little kitchen island in their tiny two bedroom apartment on the southside of Promepolis.

"So how'd it _go_ today?" Meis flickered a curious and playful side-eye over at his friend from the stovetop where he was stirring a large boiling pot of water and noodles.

"It was fine," the lime blonde shrugged nonchalantly as he moved onto chopping little cherry tomatoes. He was quick with the blade as usual.

"Babe, don't force him to talk about his date if he doesn't want to," Gueira gruffly piped up from the couch as he tinkered with one of his new helmet prototypes on the coffee table. Scraps and sketches laid haphazardly around him. 

"It wasn't a _date_ ," Lio shot a glare up at both his friends and continued chopping vegetables, albeit more forcefully.

"Sure sounded like one," Meis couldn't help the small, knowing grin that spread across his face. He stopped stirring for a moment in order to run a few quick fingers through his long, dark hair and tie it back into a sloppy ponytail. His wind blade tattoo flexed on his shoulder as he snapped the hair tie off his wrist and into place.

"Don't you two have anything better to do than speculate on the non-existent status of my love life?" The lithe former Mad Burnish leader sighed as he began knifing his ingredients into a large wooden serving bowl from the cabinet below.

 _"No,"_ both of his friends answered simultaneously then cracked into giddy laughter at how oddly in-sync they were with one another. They were disgustingly cute sometimes, but that was the price Lio paid for renting a place with the two people who loved him so loyally and so fiercely often at their own great personal cost.

Lio sighed again wearily.

"Aw, don't be so down about it boss! We're just happy you finally got out for the day on your own is all," his lumbering cooking partner mused fondly having gone back to his stirring. He shook some salt into the noodles.

"You say that like I never get out of here," Lio muttered. He began tossing the greens, staring distantly into them.

"Going to work doesn't really count," Meis chided.

"Or getting groceries," Gueira chimed in from across the room.

"Or drag racing," his lanky companion added, poking a finger to his cheek like he was contemplating where else Lio occasionally ran off to.

"Alright, alright, I get it! But it still wasn't a _date_ -date. Just food with a friend and a little joyride. Same as you two. That's it," Lio explained irritatedly as he opened a cabinet beside Meis and the stove and searched for vinaigrette.

"But didn't you say he called you _cute_ before?" Meis grinned slyly as he hip-bumped Lio.

"He didn't mean it like _that_ ," Lio retorted, going back to his island counter.

"The same way he didn't mean that he _'likes you a lot?'"_ Gueira snickered.

"Shut UP, he barely knows what he means when he says shit like that," the lime blonde snapped sending another little agitated glare over to his red haired lackey.

"Or maybe you just can't accept it," Meis noted, thoughtfully stirring the pot of pasta.

"What do you mean can't accept 'it?' Accept _what?"_

"That someone could like you, for you," Meis continued, glancing over more seriously at his boss now. "That you're worthy of that. That you deserve to have some kind of happiness in your life after the dumpster fire that happened to this city. To the Burnish. To _us."_

"Nobody _deserves_ anything. That's not how the world works," Lio scoffed hotly, tossing the salad so forcefully he began flinging bits of spinach out of the bowl.

"False!" Gueira interrupted from the living room peanut gallery again.

This time Lio threw the closest thing he could from the counter at him, which happened to be an oven mitt. They had one of those now that they couldn't touch a plethora of scalding hot items without dire consequences.

"Lio, he's right," Meis navigated carefully, his dark eyes seeming to grow with concern for his friend. "You _do_ deserve someone who will make you happy. You might not think that, but Galo isn't the kind of guy who is just going to give up on you. He won't take no for an answer, you know?"

Lio tried to force down the knot that was forming in his throat.

He loved his friends—his loyal, kind friends who wanted so much for him to move on and find peace. They were part of the reason he had been able to mostly keep his shit together for this long anyway. When he woke panicked and yelling and raging at night the first few months after the midtown disaster, they were there for him in ways he never imagined anyone could be. Rushing into his room to make sure he hadn't accidentally hurt himself or punched a hole in the wall again before talking him awake enough to realize that he had just been dreaming. None of his nightmares were true, other than the one they already lived through during the fall of the Parnassus Project and the loss of the Promare. Gueira and Meis grounded him in reality and gave him perspective where it was hard to see beyond his own.

But this time they were wrong. 

He didn't deserve the kind of love Galo wanted to give him. He didn't deserve to find happiness when there was so much suffering that could have been stopped by his own hands—so much suffering that continued as former Burnish all over the city tried to move on with their lives while they dealt with the terrible loss of their loved ones and their spouses and their children. How could he call himself a leader when so many had been led to their gruesome deaths in the labs to be tortured and burned alive? 

Lio hated that he even allowed himself to indulge as much as he had in the soft affection he felt for Galo. Had hated himself for believing sometimes that it was okay to pretend none of that shit had happened and that he could be a normal guy with a normal job and a normal crush on a normal idiot. 

And as much as he hated the word "deserve," he knew Galo didn't deserve someone as completely shattered as he was. As broken and hollow and ugly as he knew himself to be. 

Galo deserved someone who could be brilliantly positive and radiant just like he was. He deserved so much more than anything Lio could ever be, and any time he heard Galo mouth off about loving _this_ or loving _that_ about him he had to stop and remind himself that it wasn't real. Galo didn't _know_ him well enough to understand that those things weren't real. Lio was a fake. A fraud who wasn't worth loving for those things because he was none of them. He was, in every sense of the word, broken. Galo didn't deserve someone who couldn't even put the shards of his life back together after they'd been blown to ash.

"If you guys wanted me out so badly to get some alone time together, all you had to do was ask," Lio deflected as he brought the aggressively tossed greens over to their tiny apartment dining table and sat down mentally exhausted from their well-meaning banter.

"You know damn well it's not that boss," Gueira reassured him as he clapped a firm hand on Lio's shoulder and happily took a seat to his right.

"Yea, it's just nice to see you open up to that hunky fool is all," Meis chuckled deeply with a knowing half grin as he took his rightful place on Lio's left.

"You two are ridiculous," Lio caved with another sigh, feeling the weight of all the things he'd done that day with Galo start to consume him. He didn't want to think of the implications yet—he just wanted to see him again and forget his life and his problems for a while.

"And it _wasn't a date_ ," Lio reiterated sourly.

—

"It was _totally_ a date!" Galo barked for the bajillionth time that morning.

"How come I don't see any cutesy, sappy photos on my feed then, Galo? _Huh?_ Explain _that_ , why don'tcha! _"_ Lucia barked back as she spun around in her wheely chair and shoved her phone in Galo's face. 

It sported a cheeky selfie of her with a new prototype for something or other she'd been working on at her junk pile of a workbench in the back of Bay 2. She had piles of parts, bits, tools, and scraps in boxes and bins littered everywhere around her desk and the adjacent industrial muscle rack shelves they'd installed for her last summer. Many of the Burning Rescue Unit 3 mechas all stood eerily quiet like sleeping soldiers beyond her work area in various states of upgrade and repair. A few of the retired models laid half stripped for parts beyond them.

"How many times do I gotta say it? It's because we didn't _get_ any photos, you little gearhead! _Sheesh!_ We're not like you kids these days who need photographic evidence of every stupid, boring thing you do to prove to the world that you're hot shit or somethin'!" The blue haired fool belligerently protested as he threw his brawny hands on his hips and cocked his expressive mohawk to the side. He wasn't unlike a very disgruntled rooster.

"So are you gonna help me or _not?"_ He added defiantly, feeling like he absolutely didn't want to beg, but if he had to he _would_. For Lio's sake anyway.

"I gotta say, you're _really_ selling it to me here Galo. Please, continue to make slanderous generational assumptions based on your dumbass biases," Lucia huffed as she flicked her huge red bug-like goggles down over her eyes and continued to do something that made bright, fiery sparks on an electronic circuit board she'd been messing with when he first walked in.

"General… general, _what_ now?" Galo shouted over the buzz of her tool.

"Stop before you blow a spark plug in that pea brain of yours Thymos!" The skinny little inventor in the purple leggings and high tops clapped back with much more edge to her sass than usual. 

He must have _really_ pissed her off in the three minutes he'd been standing here trying to have a productive conversation which was quickly turning into a massive burning train wreck. But SHE was the one who had to go all _little sister_ on his ass and interrogate every irrelevant detail about Lio, their date, even their stupid _clothes_ (apparently he was a dumbutt for wearing sweats). Galo was 85% sure this was just to make certain that her winning bet about his love life wouldn't be considered null and void by the rest of the team. And now that he'd actually caved she was being a total freakin' sourpuss about it! Why were girls so _difficult?_ He thought she of all people would be all mad science cackling, over the flippin' moon and shit to help him with this sorta thing _because_ of that stupid Galolio dating bet… 

Wait. Did he just make a couple name for them? Maybe it should actually be Liogalo? DOUBLE WAIT—were they even a _'them'_ yet?!

"Lucia, I'm sorry I just… hah... I-I don't know, okay? You keep asking me if we're _dating_ -dating and I don't know what to tell you other than we got food, we talked, and hung out and stuff. It was fun. For me at least. That's all I got," Galo confessed as he sighed rather dramatically for such a normally happy-go-lucky guy and ran his tense fingers over his blue side buzz and through his mohawk. 

Honestly, he'd been feeling rather confused about all of this himself. He _thought_ it was a date. Lio even said 'it's a date' when he initially asked. And he hadn't ever gone on one of those before so this was all new and exciting and frankly very confusing to him. 

Lucia paused her busy work and spun to face him with those massive protective bug eyes that bore right into his firefighting soul. She chewed her gum noisily for a moment. It smelled distinctly like watermelon. Possibly of the sour variety. Raiding her locker for candy after this didn't seem like such a bad idea.

"And 'stuff?'" She smacked her lips popping a quick bubble on her tongue. "What kind of _stuff_ Galo?"

"Huh?" Galo squinted still blinking from point blank watching her fire-sparking tool. In hindsight, he probably shouldn't have been staring at it so close without eye protection.

"What was the 'stuff' part?" Lucia repeated hastily, trying to conjure the patience of someone much older than herself. She loved Galo like a big brother, but he was such a thick-headed moron sometimes.

"We uh… we went for a ride?" His voice lilted into a question at the end as if he could be wrong about his own date.

"A _ride?_ " She over-emphasized the word, raising both eyebrows above her eyewear.

"A bike ride. A motorcycle ride," Galo snapped as if that should have been totally obvious.

 _"Together?_ Like on the same bike? _"_ The little gearhead dropped her tool with a clatter and continued to stare up at him slightly open-mouthed, jaw paused mid-gum chew.

"Well, _yea,"_ Galo scratched the back of his head wondering what look she was giving him behind her expressionless goggles. Shock? Amusement? Both?

"Who was driving?" The teen genius pried without hesitation.

"Does it matter?" The brawny firefighter shot back feeling more and more confused by her onslaught of arbitrary questions.

 _"Yes_ , Thymos it matters."

"He drove."

"Wow. That's intimate," Lucia noted thoughtfully, resuming her chewing as she snapped another pink bubble.

"Whatever. Can you please just help me out here?" Galo tried to redirect her back to the task at hand. This was important. Super important.

"When were you hoping to have this brand new mecha ready Galo? You know it took nearly a half a year to map out yours and then just as long to get something functioning put together. And there would be fittings, calibrations, test runs and all sorts of other—"

"I know! I know. It can't be a complete surprise, I get it, but I want it to be as close to done as possible when we show him. If you think that could be a thing then I want to try," Galo explained hopefully, leaning heavily on the edge of her desk and looking like the desperate fool he was.

"Well, it _could_ be a thing," the teenager considered carefully as she crossed her lab-coated arms and tapped her chin in thought.

 _"Really?"_ Galo piped up like a puppy dog who was finally being offered a walk after having waited an inexcusable amount of time with the leash right next to the front door.

"IF you get his measurements for me that is," the blonde and strawberry haired inventor grinned wide with ornery, devilish satisfaction.

Galo balked. 

" _I CAN'T DO THAT!"_

"Then I can't help you!" Lucia sing-songed, spinning back in her seat to tinker once again.

"Lucia, _pleeease…_ " Galo groaned and threw his head back to lull desperately on his shoulders.

"Galo, I know you think I'm just being a brat, but I seriously can't begin customizing anything unless you get me those measurements," she said evenly into the sparks that flared up around her gloved fingers.

"You are a brat, but that's not the point! Isn't there another way?" Galo whined leaning fully over her desk and banging his forehead on top of it. It did hurt because it was harder than he'd expected, but he didn't care.

"You bring him in and let me do it then," Lucia obscenely squished her gum into one cheek as she fiddled with the circuit board.

"We can't do _that!_ It'll ruin the surprise!" Galo spat bitterly into the scratched up, smudged surface as his folded arms shielded him from her sparks and judgement (he wasn't pouting goddammit). Unfortunately, his protective stance did nothing for his mohawk which was so dangerously close to Lucia's flame that she had to shove his head away.

"Then _you_ need to get creative, Galo. Use maybe 15% of that dorky brain of yours instead of ten."

"You are the worst, you know that?"

"The worst who's at your service! Don't be such a worrywart, dingus. You'll figure it out!" Lucia cackled turning on an even louder tool which signaled to Galo that she was absolutely done with his whining and this conversation.

But that still left Galo totally fucked, and not in the good way!

How in the hell was he supposed to get accurate measurements on Lio enough to have a full-custom matoi mech designed for him? He remembered when he himself got fitted for his gear and it was so… so _intrusive!_ He'd actually asked for someone else to do it because even though Lucia was a freaking child-prodigy… she was a freaking _CHILD_ -prodigy. It just seemed wrong to let her wrap her devious little tape measure around every sensitive part of him just so she could make accurate design decisions and alterations for his robot. Couldn’t she make a scan machine or some shit to automatically do that? Why did it have to be so _awkward?_

In the end, Remi (perpetually the voice of reason and the actual adult in the room) had told him to suck it up and just took the measurements himself to spare Galo any further embarrassment. Obviously it was SUPER weird with Remi too, but much less so because… well, Remi liked _girls_ and had some mysterious lady friend from the internet that none of them had ever met so it wasn't AS weird as Lucia. He just got in there and did things quick and efficient-like. Didn't even comment or say anything to make Galo feel worse for being a big baby about it.

But the thought of Remi's cold, efficient hands all over Lio's body was BEYOND repulsive to Galo. He would need to find a non-gag-worthy alternative and _soon_ if he wanted this whole thing somehow done in less than six months. Before the anniversary. Before Lio would have a chance to look back and feel like he hadn't achieved much in the year since it all happened. He didn't want that for him. Lio deserved more.

The frustrated hothead left Bay 2 feeling like he hadn't actually gotten that much farther with his super secret _Matoi Tech for Lio_ mission. 

All he knew was that he wanted this for his friend (or boyfriend?—unclear) so bad he would do whatever it took in order to make it happen. As smart and cocky and beautiful and confident as Lio seemed to be much of the time, Galo had seen the not so shiny parts of him too. The ones that he wasn't probably meant to see. The shards of his heart that still needed rescuing and healing.

More than anything he wanted to make Lio smile and to _feel_ it on the inside. There were so many dark clouds still chasing him, still haunting him in ways Galo couldn't imagine. The former Burnish leader had lost so much that it just seemed like the least he could do was to try to return some semblance of control and autonomy to him. To give him back a bit of the power he inevitably lost. To spark some of the true fighting spirit he saw in him from their very first fight when Lio was dressed head to toe in his gigantic larger-than-life shining black Promare armor. God, that suit was hot...

Anyway, Lio deserved that much. He really did. He deserved so much more too, but this was the best Galo could think of right now. Something that would inevitably bring him joy and make him crack that sly, cautious grin he always tried to hide for whatever reason. Maybe he’d punch Galo's shoulder and tease him for being such a softie and doing something so sweet. Maybe he'd even get a hug out of it.

He'd like that. Very much.

Galo sighed as he made his way back to the Burning Rescue gym in hopes that some serious dead-lifting would help clear his mind and get the blood flowing to his brain for ideas on how to get those measurements. If nothing else, maybe he'd earn himself a stolen locker KitKat afterwards.

He could do this, he thought optimistically. He'd find a way. Somehow. For Lio.

—

Galo had dealt with many ill-timed semis in his life, but this had to be in the top five most insufferable yet. 

First of all, he felt like such a goddamn _creep_ standing awkwardly beside Lio who was asleep on the rec room couch during one of their shared all-nighter shifts, but he just couldn't rip his wide teal blue eyes away from him.

The _problem_ was that Lio had somehow managed to ruck a hand up his thin black rescue t-shirt enough to reveal the soft dipped curves of his hip bones, the toned planes of his stomach, and beginnings of those pale, skinny ribs that rose and fell with the sweet rhythm of his breath. If that much soft, incredible skin wasn't enough to sharpen his senses and harden his dick then the fact that Lio's nipples were perked up under the fabric would do the trick. Layers of lime blonde hair were tossed carelessly over the armrest with a few strands gently fanned out over his serene, angelic face. His eyelashes were completely still and so _ridiculously_ long. They innocently concealed the resting rose-colored eyes that had seen too much in his young life.

Galo bit his lip hard.

Fuck, there was NO WAY he'd be getting those measurements for Lucia! He couldn't even look at Lio's body this close without his own having such a visceral reaction to it! Was he going to have to start pre-gaming before shifts with Lio so that his dick would be too tired for this to keep happening? Sure it wasn't often that this sort of thing _did_ happen _at_ work, but now that he had been spending the past few weeks scheming ways for him to get (or fairly accurately guess) Lio's body stats his brain kept lingering in places where it shouldn't. Hence, his own body's confused and happily intrigued reactions. 

Galo wanted so, SO badly to reach out and touch him. To tuck the stray strand of hair off his peaceful face and fit his lips against Lio's to kiss him slowly into conscientiousness. To run a hand through his hair, down his chest, and curl it around Lio's own as he whispered him awake. To make him scooch over so that he could cuddle him on that too-small-for-this-kinda-shit couch because Galo was a big dude and even by himself he had to scrunch up to take a nap there or deal with his limbs dangling off at odd angles (both of which he'd done to varying levels of success). And if Galo were being honest, he really wanted to fold himself around Lio and feel the blazing warmth and the strength he knew, just _knew_ , Lio had. His body ached to wrap his legs around the much smaller man in any capacity and dry hump his growing erection into him until he heard Lio's own soft pants and groans for more than just the superficial friction. How incredible would it feel to run his fingers down Lio's taunt, toned stomach until he reached those burning red and black strapped rescue pants concealing Lio's own perfectly amazing desire raging for _him_ —

"...Galo?"

"AHHCK!" 

Galo Thymos jumped back so quickly and so carelessly that he tripped, fell, and crashed head first over the coffee table, which luckily had nothing but a remote on it that smacked against the hard floor with a loud plastic crack.

"Oh, Galo are you—" The sleepy voice began to question but before he could finish the blue haired firefighter scrambled up off the furniture that was not tested for his weight capacity and bolted out of the room. His face was painted in shades of crimson mortification.

Galo had been told many, _many_ times not to run inside unless it was to respond to an actual emergency, but right now he didn't care because all he could think about was that he was the world's biggest fucking pervert for standing there shamelessly watching Lio sleep while indulging in his dirty fantasies that _weren't real_ and never _would be_ if he couldn't just be a fucking gentleman and rub it out in the bathroom like every other hopeless sap who had a crush but no balls to actually do anything about it. He wanted to crawl into a pit of eternal shame and wallow there for a thousand years before he even considered letting himself out among the civilized again. Why did being around Lio cause his mind to wander into places it never had with anyone else before? Why was his heart beating so hard in his chest that it physically hurt? Had Lio _seen_ him? Like, _really_ seen him just now? Jesus fuck, he was so _fucked!_ Why was he losing control of himself like this? Lio was his _friend_ , a _good friend_ and Lio trusted him with things he was pretty sure he didn't trust with anyone else with, and yet here he was popping boners and objectifying him like his thoughts and feelings didn't matter one bit as long as he could get off at Lio's expense.

God, he was horrible. He loved Lio so much that he'd never do anything without his explicit permission, but STILL. He felt like such a trash person for even letting his mind go there and felt just as terrible about dick-hobbling at full speed down the hall, past the bathrooms, and up through the stairwell to the one place where he could clear his head and let his other one simmer the fuck down (literally).

The autumn night's air was cool and crisp up on the roof. A city breeze deployed goosebumps across his thickly built arms that didn't care because he was always super warm and didn't really ever require a jacket (or a shirt for that matter). The lights from skyscraper offices, condos, and retail space glowed in mismatched patterns to create the beautiful shadowy Promepolis cityscape beyond. Sleeping mountains (or volcanoes really now that they had all erupted at least once) stood in the far distant horizon, dark and old and restful.

Galo sat near the edge of the Promepolis emergency services administrative building and breathed deeply.

He was definitely cooling off up here down _there,_ but he still felt so… so… 

Conflicted...?

"Galo?"

For the second time that night the brawny fool knee-jerked at his own name, but since he'd been sitting cross-legged he just managed to fall back onto his palms and catch himself before he took steel roofing to the head.

"L-Lio, you uh… you shouldn't be up here…" Galo stammered not making eye contact because he still felt stupid guilty for fake dry humping him in his dirty mind.

"Neither should you," Lio countered casually as he approached. "I tried Burning Rescue's roof, but you weren't there."

"Yea, I uh… I needed fresher air."

Galo shifted uncomfortably away from him, back towards the cityscape that had been calming him down.

"Pretty sure it's the same poor air quality up here," the former Burnish smiled the tiniest bit before he realized Galo wasn't even looking at him.

"Ah… Are you okay?" The lime blonde asked with a cautious sincerity Galo didn't deserve. 

"Uh…"

He didn't want to lie. He was bad at it and Lio would know immediately and, up, yep, there it was. Lio's mild, neutral look of curiosity dialed up to legitimate, blatant concern.

"You look terrible. Are you not feeling well?"

Whelp, Galo felt even worse now. He didn't deserve pity for being a goddamn _perv_.

Lio crouched down beside him and took a seat on the cold, grimy rooftop. He didn't even have a jacket on.

"Earth to Galo?"

Aw, shit. He still hadn't answered him and now he was just making things even weirder with his uncharacteristic silence.

"I… I'm fine."

"You don't look fine," the former Burnish replied immediately.

Galo shrugged.

"Your face is all red," Lio continued, carefully inspecting him with those beautiful, knowing eyes.

Galo shifted away from him, teal eyes downcast.

"And you're not talking to me…" 

Ohhhh, that one hurt. It hurt because there was a tiny edge of pain in Lio's tone that was so subtle he almost missed it, but it was totally there.

"I'm sorry Lio. I, uh… I dunno. I'm just dealing with a lot. It's not you…"

Except it absolutely _was_ him, it just wasn't Lio's _fault_. Lio didn't ask for a matoi tech or the implications of getting one built for him and he certainly didn't ask to be fantasy material for Galo's desperate cock. Seriously, what was _wrong_ with him?

"Do you want to talk about it?" Lio offered softly, wrapping his pale and deceptively strong arms around his knees as he peered out across the skyline.

"Uhm…"

He was Galo Burning Firefighter's Soul Thymos—OF COURSE he wanted to talk about it, but he couldn't very well do that because it was _super_ embarrassing and _super_ NSFW.

"I-I don't know that it's something you can help me with," Galo admitted weakly as he scratched the back of his blue mohawk and stared glumly at his rescue boots.

"Well, I certainly can't try if you don't tell me either," Lio noted without any spite. He was being genuine. He did want to help. "You know you can trust me, right?"

At this, Galo balked.

"Of course I can! I _do_ trust you Lio! I… I just, uh…"

"I don't think I have ever seen you so at a loss for words Galo."

"Okay, _ouch…_ "

"That wasn't a dig. I'm serious," Lio said as he dipped his head down a bit to try to get the blue mohawked fool to look at him. His shiny, blonde hair hung down away from his face. There were goosebumps all over his bare arms with no jacket to cover the black fitted tee that had initially sparked Galo's descension into horndog land. 

"Are you mad at me?" Lio then lowered his gaze and his tone into the softest dark whisper that instantly broke Galo's heart.

"No way!" Galo shot up immediately, now staring his companion directly in the eye while probably being far closer to his face than he ought to be. "Lio you didn't do anything! Pinky swear! I don't think I could be mad at you even if I tried!"

"I sincerely doubt that," the former Burnish rolled his eyes ever so slightly and then chanced a sideways glance at him. "Are you upset with someone else then?"

"Eehhh, not exactly..?"

"You sure have been secretive lately," Lio mused.

"Well, that's because—"

 _Fuck,_ he couldn't tell him!

"Aw geez, Lio! I can't really say why, just know it's not you and that I wish I could say but I just can't," the brawny firefighter groaned into his hand and swiped it back through his mohawk anxiously. Like he needed something to do with his hands, but this was all he had.

"I'm surprised anyone would ask you to keep a secret Galo."

"A secret..? Oh, uhm, yea it's… Okay, I guess it's kind of a secret. Like a secret mission."

"A secret mission that isn't going well?" Lio ventured. The wind picked up the ends of his hair against the skyscrapers beyond him.

"Yea," Galo exhaled deeply in relief now that they had a way to discuss it without discussing _it._ "Yea, I'm having a hard time trying to figure how to… to do part of it."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

Short of letting Galo straight up take a tape measure to his form—no, no there wasn't.

"I… I don't know," Galo answered uncertainly. 

The city night time silence lofted up around them—the distant hum of late night traffic, bars open a few streets over, and the occasional bark of a dog out on someone's apartment patio.

Lio shifted beside him.

"Do… do you think the stars are really Promare?" Lio asked unexpectedly in a profound hush as he gazed up at the polluted midtown sky, which was full of streaking clouds and not a star in sight.

"Um… what?" Galo wet his lips and glanced curiously over at his companion.

"The stars. Do you think maybe they are actually masses of Promare?" The lime blonde repeated evenly. 

Galo looked up at the same starless sky and blinked.

"I guess they could be. Never really thought about it before."

"Mmm."

"...Do you miss them Lio?"

The former Burnish leader didn't stop staring up above the skyscrapers, but he did shift his hands to create friction on his thinly goose-bumped biceps.

"I think so. Sometimes..."

More ambient silence drifted between them.

"Lio, you've got to be freezing up here," Galo said seriously as he shifted to take off his zip up hoodie, but then remembered he wasn't wearing one.

"It's fine," Lio dismissed quickly, fingers lifting up off his shoulder to partially wave away the notion.

"It's not fine. I'm sorry I don't have a sweater or anything… Do you wanna just go ba—"

But before Galo could finish that thought Lio leaned into him, pressing his chilled shoulder up against the burning warmth of his severely scarred and compression-sleeved arm. The lithe firefighter's t-shirted shoulder blades connecting into the cozy nook between Galo's sculpted biceps and his broad chest. Lio's clean cotton and bourbon vanilla scents came into crystal sharp focus.

"I'm fine Galo," the lime blonde uttered, rose-colored eyes glancing over at him and then back into the urban abyss.

Galo could hardly breathe and he was afraid that if he did then it might jinx him or wake him up from whatever magical thing was happening right now.

So he said nothing at all, and that was okay because Lio, Lio Fotia formerly of Mad Burnish _Lio_ , was currently nestled right up beside him on that brisk metropolitan evening tapping into his ever-flowing source of body heat and his unbreakable determination to do whatever it took to make Lio truly smile again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a little while since the last update, but hopefully it was worth the wait! Galo and Lio are still trying to navigate through the awkwardness that is liking someone, but not knowing if you're "officially" dating so stay tuned for more on that haha...
> 
> Anyway, if you had a chuckle, a thought, or are enjoying things so far let me know! Always curious to know what resonates (or doesn't) with folks. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! ❤️


	9. Hot Pants Stalker

"I'm not sure I understand what the problem is..."

 _"Aina!_ I thought you of all people would get this sort of _thinnng,"_ Galo groaned in deep frustration from the passenger seat.

"I mean, I understand that you're trying to surprise him with the mech Galo," the bubblegum blonde firefighter replied as she drove one of the Burning Rescue Unit 3 command SUVs through light city traffic. Morning autumn clouds reflected off the Promepolis architecture as the two made their way to a less urgent house call. Something about a stranded cat.

"Can't you just _ask_ Lio for his sizes? What's the big deal?" She continued with a skeptical furrowed brow.

At this Galo groaned even more loudly than he had before and plunked his blue head rather forcefully against the vehicle's side window. His cheek smushed unattractively in a reflective huff.

"That would just be _mega_ uncool! I'm surprised you don't know that. I can't just say, _'Oh hey Lio, how's it going? By the way, do you mind giving me a list of all your personal body measurements? It's totally not for something creepy at all! No? Okay. Sweet, sweet. Lemme go drown myself in a pool of my own embarrassment and tears now. Yea bud, good talk. See yah later!'"_

He smiled wide and fake as he nodded his fluffy mohawked head in sarcastic enthusiasm.

"Galo, can you stop being such a drama queen?" Aina frowned over at him enough to see Galo continue cocking his head and eyebrows against the glass like he was mentally carrying on the faux conversation with Lio.

"Oh, come on, stop that!" Aina quipped, whacking his arm with light-handed annoyance. 

"Ugghhh, I don't know what to _do_ , Aina! _"_ The blue haired firefighter moaned, dropping his internal conversation with Lio and dragging a huge calloused palm down his face so that he nearly looked like he was melting. His brain pretty much felt like it was at this point. 

"I already told you I think you should be up front about it. If you can't do that much Galo I'm not sure what you think you have with him..."

"Okay, _wow._ Super uncalled for Ai…"

"Seriously though," Aina continued with another glance over at her struggling friend as she continued to drive south out past the center city skyscrapers and on through the more residential neighborhoods, apartment buildings, and small businesses. Ones that hadn't been devastated like midtown had been. 

"Are you... really dating him? You never told me what happened a few weeks ago. Is he… something more to you now?"

Galo looked pensive for a moment, which in and of itself sent an alarm bell ringing through Aina's mind. Galo in general did not take many moments to really think before he said things. Not in her experience at least. 

"I guess we might be?" Galo finally asked more than stated while scratching the back of his head.

"You _guess?”_ Aina’s eyes widened as she stared at the traffic lights and cars ahead of them. “Isn't it a yes or no? You're either dating or you're not?" 

"What is _with_ you girls and wanting to _label_ everything? I don't _know_ , okay? I just know that I like him and that when I told him as much—”

"You TOLD him that you like him, Galo?" Aina asked incredulously as she hazarded a quick frantic look over at him. She turned down a smaller neighborhood side road with far fewer vehicles and more trees in various degrees of shifting fall colors.

"Well… yea? So what? I asked him if he liked me too and—"

The SUV suddenly slammed to a complete stop engaging the auto-locking seat belts and knocking the air from Galo's lungs.

"AINA, what the _hell?!"_ Galo sputtered as he struggled with the incredibly tight belt that was cutting into his black t-shirted man boobs.

"GALO," his best friend and confidant replied sternly. “You asked him _if he liked you?”_

“Wha… yah? Yea, why? Is that bad?” He breathed, giving up and unlocking the belt entirely only to refasten it a second later.

“Galo, people only ask that if they mean _‘like-liking’_ someone!” Aina explained pinching the bridge of her nose as they sat still at a stop sign intersection in a sleepy little neighborhood.

“WHOA, _no._ No, no, NO _._ That is _not_ what I asked him Aina!” The brawny fool shook his head with wide and slightly fearful teal eyes.

The vehicle began moving again.

“It IS what you asked him if that’s how you said it," she blinked with the explicit look of someone who was half impressed and half shocked at the unintentional audacity of her romantically hopeless friend.

“But-but I didn’t ask if he _‘like-liked’_ me,” Galo reasoned rather pathetically. “I just asked if he _liked_ me. Like at _all_. _"_

Aina sighed with the weight of entirely too much airhead education placed indirectly on her responsible shoulders.

“Galo, it’s the same thing," she explained with a thin thread of patience. "What happened next? What did he say?”

“Well, not a lot because he choked on his pizza…” Galo remembered slowly as the contextual knowledge began to seep into his brain. 

Then the mortification hit.

 _“Holy shit_ , I asked him if he _like-liked_ me and then he almost DIED? What’s that even _mean?!”_

Obsessive thoughts were crashing into him one after another now. Did Lio think he was absolutely nuts? Or that he was coming on to him? Was he offended by that question? What _else_ had he been saying to Lio unknowingly? Was there a ton of other stuff getting lost in translation? Lio often tried to explain things from his perspective (Burnish-related or otherwise) but he also still kept a lot to himself. How much of that was because Galo had said or done something totally off the friendship base he thought they had built together? Why didn’t he KNOW this crap already?

"Well you're still clearly hanging out together beyond work, right?" His friend reasoned as the vehicle approached the house call address in their GPS app. "Maybe he's… maybe he _is_ into you then. But even so, I don't think you have to make a big deal out of this mech stuff with Lucia, okay? Just be honest with him even if you have to say it's for a surprise. I'm sure he'll understand."

Galo fussed with the rescue backpack and supplies at his feet while letting out another awkwardly long suffering groan at his own stupidity. Or ignorance? No. No, it was definitely stupidity at work here, his prophecy didn't erase _all_ the stupid.

"All he'll understand is that I'm not only a moron but a _pervy_ moron if I ask him that Aina... There's gotta be another way..."

"God, you are so freakin’ stubborn Galo…"

With that, the two firefighters both sighed from the futility of the conversation and dutifully exited the SUV to handle the call.

If only his personal problems were as simple as rescuing a very frightened, very uncooperative old cat from an oak tree. Galo had the feeling that the numerous bloody scratches he left with that morning would be nothing in comparison to the anguish it would take to get those goddamn measurements.

—

As luck would have it, later that same week Galo did finally stumble upon a suitable solution to his strange predicament even if it was slightly more under-handed than he was normally comfortable with. He may have been a hero in many senses of the word but he never once pretended to be a goody two-shoes.

"Well, that sure was fun!" Galo laughed brightly from the co-pilot seat once again as Lio drove one of the rescue SUVs back from a high rise luxury condominium not far from Burning Rescue.

It was a clear, cool city evening and Galo was currently riding the high of getting to work another call one-on-one with Lio. He still got butterflies in his big-hearted chest at any opportunity to spend time with him even at work and especially when it was just the two of them. It had been wholly worth the weeks of antagonistic goading and convincing it took to get Lio to agree to join Burning Rescue last spring for chances like this to be a team together again.

"Running up and down sixteen flights of stairs is your idea of ‘fun’ Galo?" Lio raised a curious eyebrow over at him and couldn't help the tiny grin that accompanied it. His lime blonde hair still clung damp to his face from the impromptu competitive workout. 

While Lio could certainly keep up in speed-based challenges thanks to all the cardio he did on a regular basis, it didn't prevent him from wearing out slightly before his brawny hyperactive coworker in endurance-based endeavors. In other words, broken elevators and subsequent emergency stairwells were not his forte.

"Hey man, it could have been _worse,"_ the blue haired fool laughed again in gregarious carefree amusement as he put the window down and let his mohawk blow out of it with the brisk urban breeze. The savory scents of city dining and street food rushed by in distinctly vivid flavors. In that moment he was not unlike a very self-satisfied dog.

Lio tried to stifle his own chuckle. He still did this frequently, almost as if he was trying to reel in his own delight—like he wasn’t allowed to chill or be happy or something weird like that. Fortunately, in the weeks following their questionable date/not-a-date Galo had been able to crack more of the serious Burnish bossman facade he put up so that was _something._ Progress in the right direction for sure. Honestly though, it didn't matter too-too much because Galo would never stop trying to make Lio smile or laugh. Never ever.

"How could it have been _worse_ Galo?" Lio humored his passenger as he turned down the main road back to headquarters through the expanse of dusk-tinted skyscrapers and glowing lights from the street lamps, office buildings, and traffic signals.

"Mmm, the whole place could have totally been on fire," Galo reasoned optimistically.

"You'd have gotten to ride in the big truck though," the lithe firefighter countered immediately knowing his companion relished in the epicly chaotic challenge of a blazing building and lives to save.

"Okay, _sure_ , but objectively that situation would have been categorized as _worse_ Lio."

"Since when do you use words like 'objectively?'" The former Burnish snarked with the beginnings of a smartass grin taking hold of his lips.

As predicted, Galo full-on shoved Lio's arm in playful retaliation, although Lio did immediately shoulder him back. Lio’s formerly unbreakable face crinkled into a genuine smile even as he tried to actively suppress it.

"You better watch it Fotia! It’s your fault anyway—you're the one teaching me all these shiny new words," Galo grinned massively wide and unoffended despite his rough-housing counterattack. It was always fun to mess with Lio like this whenever he got the golden opportunity to. Actually he was starting to think Lio enjoyed egging him on just as much.

"I think you're the one who ought to watch it Thymos. Assaulting a driver when you're in a moving vehicle isn't the—"

Lio stopped himself there. He didn't need to though. Galo understood where he was going.

"Right, right. It's _stupid_. I get it. Loud and clear boss," Galo huffed out the window, his mood mildly soured from the reminder that even if Lio believed in self-fulfilling prophecies and didn't think he was mega levels of stupidity incarnate like everyone else did sometimes he… Well, sometimes the stereotype still clung to him. 

"I didn't mean it like that Galo," Lio said quietly as he flickered a sincere rose-tinted glance over at him from the wheel.

"It's fine Lio. Someday I'll stop doing stupid things and then we won't have to pretend anymore," Galo mused reflectively as he stared out the open window into the hustle and bustle of the Promepolis evening. It was still early. There were people walking home from work, restaurants open and filling up with customers, and couples walking hand in hand as they strolled aimlessly to wherever the vibrant city would lead them.

Lio paused for a moment, his eyes focused on the hazy glow of tail lights ahead.

"Well, you've done far fewer stupid things more recently," Lio noted in a tone that nearly felt like praise.

Even though Galo didn't look away from the reflective buildings and pedestrians out his window, his invisible puppy dog tail began to wag with unintended pride.

"Naw, come on, you're just sayin' that Lio," Galo waved him off and secretly hoped he would continue because any sort of praise from Lio was a rare and beautiful thing that made his heart swell up ten billion sizes too big. He could only imagine what Lio’s hypothetical praise of _different_ sort of nature would do to him… 

Wait, why was his brain going _there?_ Not cool brain! Focus!

"And you've been making a concerted effort to not destroy the kitchen each shift," Lio pointed out thoughtfully.

Galo had the astonishingly annoying tendency to explode his meals in the microwave at work or leave gigantic messes in his wake whether it be in the kitchen, the rec room, the garage bays, the bathroom, the gym, or literally anywhere he spent a modicum of time. Everyone knew this. Everyone loathed this. However, it did make him rather easy to track down. Then again, so did his big loud mouth and by extension his ever-booming earnest laugh.

"That's not stupid though. It's just being more conscientious," Galo countered. He tried to clean up his messes. Usually. If he was aware that he was making them.

"You keep using words like ‘objectively’ and 'conscientious,'" Lio tried instead.

"You keep teaching them to me though!" Galo argued with a half laugh because he found it hard to stay even superficially pouty around Lio for long.

"Plus, I don’t think that's being less stupid—it's trying to be more _smart,"_ he continued, tapping his temple with a finger and wiggling an eyebrow for effect.

Lio chose not to point out that "more smart" was not a thing.

"You stopped shouting and jumping up on the couch when you and Varys watch basketball and MMA matches," the former Burnish somehow pulled another fine example out of his ass. 

No wait—HAT. Out of his _hat._

"Well… well, yea…" The brawny firefighter scratched the side of his face pondering if that really counted while also trying to stop thinking about Lio’s butt.

The truth of the matter was that Remi had threatened to cancel Burning Rescue's cable subscription if Galo didn't knock it the hell off. He’d broken far too many things around the firehouse in his over excitement on plenty of occasions and they all didn’t want the couch to become the next Thymos-related fatality. So Galo wasn't entirely sure this particular example warranted making it onto the _Galo’s Totally_ _Not Stupid List_ , but he also didn't want to argue with Lio's assessment because then he might stop this awesome praise-like thing that was happening.

"At least you’re trying. You should really give yourself some credit for that,” Lio noted shaking his head lightly with a hopelessly sly half smile. “If anyone deserves it, it’s you Galo.”

In the hot second of silence between them Galo’s heart was brimming the world over on straight up flattery, a wonderfully stroked ego, and a terribly dizzying sense of puppy love.

"Say, are you doing anything after work?" Galo asked enthusiastically, wanting desperately to extend their time together. "Do you wanna get food after our shift? There’s this new thai place around the corner that’s supposed to have killer pho and curry! And it’s been forever since I last burned the shit out my taste buds,” the blue haired fool laughed whole-heartedly at the memory of the full-blown tears that streamed down his face the last time he stubbornly refused to leave even one shred of extra spicy basil behind.

"I would, but I can't tonight Galo,” Lio answered evenly, the small leftover smile fading somewhat.

 _“Whaaat?_ Why not? You seriously have plans?” 

The disappointment in Galo’s voice was impossible to hide. He actually hadn’t expected Lio to say no—especially so quickly and especially so close to the end of their 24 hours on the clock. Who on earth planned things other than food or sleeping after working the long haul shift?

“Sort of. Maybe another night though," the lime blonde reassured him like it was no big deal.

“But don’t you need to eat? You really shouldn’t deprive yourself Lio,” Galo tried to sound like a responsible adult but as usual was far too transparent with his feelings to effectively do so. 

“I’m not deprived. I’ll just eat at home later. Don’t worry about it,” Lio explained without _really_ explaining anything at all.

“You scared you can’t take the heat?” The mohawked antagonizer switched tactics with a shit-eating grin and high cocked eyebrow in hopes of baiting his friend.

“Oh, rest assured _I_ can take the heat Galo, but tonight’s not the night I get to treat your mouth for 3rd degree burns.”

Unfortunately, as much as Galo pestered him he didn’t get much more out of Lio as they rode back to headquarters that night. He was used to the former Burnish leader having a certain air of mystery surrounding him, which was part of what Galo loved but it also frustrated the living _hell_ out of him. Stubbornly, Lio didn’t divulge anything else and totally dodged Galo’s repeated attempts at riddling out his plans with comical ease. He was smooth like that. Able to shift conversations however he wanted to with such fluidity and grace that you almost didn’t know he was completely evading the subject while pacifying you at the same time.

But Galo was getting smarter. Smarter and considerably more crafty. 

“Have a goodnight Galo. Don’t burn your tongue off, okay?” Lio wryly grinned and waved a few fingers from his backpack strap at his shoulder as he shut his work locker beside Galo’s. 

As usual Lio looked killer in his casual street clothes, which tonight consisted of snug black skinny jeans and some kind of gray and neon-colored typographic band-looking tee. Not that he didn’t look totally hot in Burning Rescue gear too, but Galo would be a bald-faced liar if he said he didn’t appreciate the fact that Lio always changed before leaving work. On those nights Galo too would stay a bit later just so that he could have more time with Lio, whether it was yelling a more or less one-sided conversation over the shower stall or walking with him to their bikes which Ignis let them park inside Burning Rescue since city parking was total crap.

 _“Right,_ thanks for the confidence man. I’ll just save the pho for later. See yah around,” Galo smiled half-heartedly as the muted disappointment and growing curiosity for what Lio was really up to still clung heavy to his ribcage. 

After having kicked his work boots off into his locker, Galo finished lacing up his color-blocked red and white high tops but just as he did so he noticed something peculiar on the floor.

“Huh? Oh… Hey Lio, you forgot your—”

However, by the time Galo looked up again Lio’s bike was peeling out of Bay 1 with a thunderous mechanical bellow. The garage door was already lowering itself again in his absence.

“Drats! Lio you can’t just leave your shirts and crap lying around or you’ll get yelled at like I do when—”

For a moment Galo held the still warm black cotton FDPP tee in his large calloused hand. The gears inside his head clicked together painfully slow as he stared down at it with a look of dumbstruck wonder plastered transparently on his face. 

Curiously, he held the garment up to his nose.

It smelled like Lio. Obviously. Vanilla bourbon again, not the lemongrass, combined with a natural light smokiness and spark that gave Galo a little bit of a high whenever he had the good fortune to be near enough to smell him without looking like a creep. 

Wait, was he being a total creep now? It wasn’t _that_ weird, right? Shit, maybe it was! If no one’s around to witness you being a total hypothetical creep, does it count? Why had Lio switched shampoos? Or was it his body wash? Holy guacamole, maybe it was _cologne?_ Lio was fancy like that so it could have absolutely been. Why didn’t Galo have any cologne of his own? He could be fancy too!

While a few of these were valid questions they were not the ones Galo should have been asking himself in that moment. Regrettably, at this time in his life Galo didn’t have the self awareness to ask whether or not he was headed down a very slippery slope with his decision about this one small standard issue Promepolis fire department t-shirt.

So as he tucked Lio’s sweaty, well-worn work tee into his gym bag inside his locker he felt a sense of relief and brilliance overcome him versus the shame he more appropriately should have felt.

But now he was cooking with fire. Now he had a _plan._

—

“Galo…”

 _“Yeees?”_ The blue haired fool answered rather smugly.

“Other than being super duper creepy and morally questionable even for you, this isn’t good enough…”

 _“What?_ What do you _mean_ it's not good enough? Lucia, have you _seen_ Lio in these pants? They fit him like a _glove!_ There's not an inch of these puppies that aren't hugging his—"

"Galo!" Lucia shot him a dirty warning look, tearing her critical eyes away from the heaping mess of clothes that were sprawled out across her already cluttered workshop desk. 

All she had done was go make herself a cup of tea to stretch her striped thin legs after sitting for far too long tinkering with a few new hardware pieces that came in the mail only to come back to her workspace looking like a trashed dressing room at Promepolis Fashion Week. Pants, shirts, a sweater, socks, a belt, a few hair ties, and even an old worn out looking gym sneaker were all dumped unceremoniously into her organized chaos making it into… well, disorganized chaos.

WTF.

“Thymos you DORK, I asked you for _measurements,_ as in _numbers,_ as in _specific units of dimension_ concerning Mr. Lio Fotia so that we can finalize his mecha and you bring me half of his freakin’ _wardrobe?”_ She fumed with high-pitched annoyance and notes of incredulousness. 

“But-but can’t you _get_ them from this stuff?” Galo asked rather pathetically, blinking in genuine confusion. “And what do you mean ‘ _finalize?’_ I thought you said you couldn’t start on it yet with knowing his fit?”

“Do I LOOK like a tailor to you?” The little tech genius huffed in exasperation as she threw Lio’s pair of black leather hot pants off her swivel chair and sat down with her steaming mug. “And yea, finalize. To finish. To complete. To be done with entirely.”

“But you said you couldn’t start until you knew his size!” Galo balked in very real outrage at his insanely clever, insanely _annoying_ coworker. 

“I said I couldn’t _customize_ until I knew,” the teenage experimenter grinned shrewdly. “I’ve been tinkering with his suit design ever since the Parnassus fell Galo, and I’d like to _finish_ it if you could stop being a baby and either get him in here to be fitted or give me his—”

“Lucia, that would RUIN the surprise!” The blue-haired baby man proclaimed hotly as he snatched up Lio’s discarded faux-leather pants off the concrete floor and slammed them back onto the desk.

“Whelp, you’re going to ruin it yourself if you keep stealing his clothes—”

“It’s not _stealing_ —”

“—like some kinda mega shady kleptomaniac apparel thief. You need to _stop_ beating around the bush with all this and just go get—"

"It's not that _simple_ you crazy little lying twerp!"

 _"Lying?_ Take that back you booger-picking horndog stalker!"

 _"Horndog?!_ Why a horn—WAIT— _STALKER?!_ I’m not a stalker! You take it back!”

“No way!”

“Yea way!”

“Like hell dingus, get this stuff off my desk before I—”

“GUYS! Can you _please_ stop yelling—we can hear you all the way from the kitchen!” Aina shouted across Lucia's workshop bay, snapping the tension between them like an old rubber band. She stood with a hand on her hip in the doorway, thoroughly annoyed discontentment emanating from her like dark clouds.

Lucia and Galo blinked then simultaneously threw each other electric dirty looks.

The bubblegum blonde sighed realizing this particular argument couldn't be resolved with a simple _“Knock it off kids,"_ so she invited herself in and approached the completely trashed workspace. 

Her finger hooked around the closest article of clothing in the haphazard pile, which happened to be the pants Galo had just picked up off the floor. 

She blinked. Then her wary sky blues met Galo’s.

“Please tell me these aren’t what I think they are,” she stated very slowly. Her eyes closed as she prayed for the patience she didn’t have to find her now.

“Uhhh… Well… what do you _think_ they are?” Galo hesitantly ventured.

“I _think_ they’re a pair of Lio’s pants. However, I _hope_ that they are _not_ a pair of his pants, Galo.”

“Okaaay, I won’t confirm or deny then...”

“Galo, WHY is there a pair of Lio’s pants on Lucia’s desk? Actually, what is… oh my GOD, is ALL of this his? Galo, are you out your goddamn mind—”

"I’m going to give them back! Don’t freak out! What is _with_ you two overreacting like—”

"We're not overreacting!" Both young women shot him venomous twin glares and his face dropped immediately.

Maybe he… maybe he went too far?

"Okay," Aina breathed in and out deeply for zen. "Galo. I wanted to stay out of it, but you leave me no choice."

"Huh?"

"Clearly you don't know how to handle something as trivial as getting a few sizes and Lucia," she shot the blonde and strawberry bunned inventor an equally sharp look. "Clearly YOU take too much enjoyment in watching Galo suffer."

Lucia's lips drooped into a pout.

"So obviously there's only one way to do this _without_ resorting to stealing or torturing Galo any further."

"Which is?" Lucia mumbled as she scooted Lio's dirty running shoe and a tank top aside with a screwdriver in order to set her tea down.

"We're just going to ask him."

"What?! No!" Galo's voice went back up to his full octane volume that could most definitely be heard from the kitchen and beyond again.

"Yes," Aina reiterated curtly, turning on the heel of her trainers and walking away with distinct purpose.

"Aina! Ai! Wait! Stop! Seriously, we can’t—" Galo sputtered as he frantically swiped Lio's clothes into his duffel bag and continued to ramble out his protest. Half of the items made it into the bag while the other half scattered across the floor. He hastily snatched as many off the concrete as he could and stuffed them in with the others. Slinging the bag strap over his shoulder, he tore after his bold best friend turned insane psycho woman with a death wish for him.

Galo ricocheted down the hall, boots thudding like his life depended on it while Lucia was hot on his trail sporting wide panicked eyes that made it clear she didn’t intend for things to go this far.

They flew past several of the private offices that the firehouse had and Remi happened to be standing in the doorway of his own with a few papers in hand. If anyone had paused for a second they would have noticed that he was thoroughly surprised to see his teammates hauling ass down the corridor without first hearing the blaring station-wide siren to indicate a real emergency call.

“Galo, Lucia, no _running_ for non-emergencies! How many times do I have to—”

But neither of them heard the end of that sentiment as they charged blindly into the kitchen slash break room. 

Lio stood with his back casually leaning against the counter, his coffee brewing in the single-serve machine behind him. Aina continued talking while Lio’s face was perfectly attentive and indifferent.

“So do you think you could get those to—”

“DON’T—LISTEN—TO HER!” Galo belted out between breaths, stumbling into the room with his duffel bag and nearly tripping over Lucia as she scrambled in beside him.

“What…” Lio raised his eyebrows at the strange scene that just burst through the doorway.

Galo appeared to have been working out based on the gratuitous amounts of sweat, the gym bag, and his exhausted half bent over posture panting for breath. The only abnormal part about this was that he was wearing his FDPP Unit 3 uniform and not his typical workout gear. Lucia too seemed to be participating, but she also was still dressed in her normal striped leggings, lab coat, and platform Converse. 

“Are you two okay?” Lio asked with more than a tinge of concern in voice. He unfolded his arms from his form-fitting black tee and stood up away from the counter’s edge.

“Don’t,” Galo huffed out breath after breath. “Don’t listen to—I mean… Fuck…”

Aina frowned deeply at him. “Galo, it’s fine. Lio said he—”

“Whatever she said it’s not true!” The blue mohawked fool finally got out what he meant to say as he leaned heavily on the break room table and unceremoniously dumped his duffel onto the nearest chair. 

“So…” Lio started carefully, his tone as equally perplexed as his expression. “We’re... not getting new work uniforms then?”

“It’s not what you think, we—Wait, _what?”_

Galo nearly swallowed his own tongue.

“Aina said we’re getting new gear,” Lio explained, still looking a bit more than mildly concerned. “Is that not the case?”

Galo’s best friend shot him a look. She was biting the inside of her cheek, eyebrows raised, daring Galo to mess up the line shot she just set up for him.

“Oh,” Galo’s shoulders slumped in massive, _massive_ relief. “Uh. Well, kinda, yea!”

“Kinda?”

“Right!” Aina interjected. “So like I was saying Lio, if you could just email those sizes to me I’ll take care of it.”

“Sure thing. Thanks for doing that,” Lio spared her a grateful smile as both Galo and Lucia collectively breathed out the stress that had hit them like the blaring full-speed force of the Mega Max fire truck in Bay 3. 

The mech surprise had been _saved._ Galo instantly wondered why he didn’t trust Aina more often with these sorts of things.

“It’s actually quite a relief,” the lime blonde commented as he took his coffee from the machine and blew on it lightly. “I seem to have misplaced most of my work clothes anyway…”

“Oh?” Aina laughed awkwardly. “Well, I’m sure they’ll turn up in no time. It’s easy for things to get misplaced around here, right Galo?”

The brawny firefighter’s teal eyes blew wide.

“Oh, totally! Yea, I-I’m constantly losing my stuff too. They’ll turn up for sure,” he stammered, shuffling a bit to stand in between his gym bag and Lio’s line of sight. 

“Whelp, I’ve had enough of this craziness today,” Lucia proclaimed. With that she produced a bright orange lollipop from her lab coat pocket and sucked it noisily on her way back to her workshop.

Lio’s rose-tinted eyes followed her out, but he didn’t question her odd statement. There were always peculiar things happening around Burning Rescue that he didn’t entirely get and mostly he chalked them up to not yet fully understanding the inside jokes and workings of the team.

“I’ve got to get back to work too,” Aina insisted with a helpless smile. “Thanks for your help Lio!”

“Not at all,” Lio replied politely watching her leave too. Once she did he turned his attention solely on Galo. 

“Are you sure you’re alright? You look like you just raced Lucia twenty times around the block...”

Galo collapsed into a seat at the table, threw his scarred hand up into his wild mohawked tresses, and blew out another trailing, stress-releasing sigh.

“Whaaat? No, no. I’m fine Lio. Totally fine. Yup. Everything’s awesome sauce man.”

From the skeptical look on Lio’s face it was apparent that he simply didn’t believe him. His pale fingers flexed along the rim and handle of his coffee mug.

“Anyway,” Galo tried to shake away the unfamiliar level of panic he had felt moments before. Aina had just saved his ass _big time_ and his head was still in a fog of adrenaline. So for better or worse his cloudy brain and ever-helpful big mouth blurted out the very first non-stealing, non-mech-related thing that came to mind.

"Hey, do you wanna go get coffee sometime?" Galo eyeballed the slightly-above-mediocre bulk office blend that Lio was currently sipping. "Like, real coffee I mean?"

"You drink coffee, Galo?" Lio mused with interest.

"Not usually, but I'll give anything a go at least once," he admitted quickly. 

"Hm. It is tempting," the former Burnish took a sip of his decidedly okay enough dark roast.

"You know you want to," Galo insisted.

"Sure, but should I?"

"Shouldn't you?" Galo didn't quite understand how that question was relevant. Like at all.

"I suppose there's no real reason not to..."

"I don't know if anyone has ever told you this, but you can do things just cause you wanna do 'em Lio," the brawny firefighter pointed out.

Lio stared into the abyss of his mug.

"...No. No one has ever told me that."

It was a figure of speech, but now Galo felt that familiar sense of possibly stumbling upon another rather gaping difference in their points of view. How had Lio been raised without anyone ever telling him it was okay to have fun just _because?_

“Okay, so it’s settled then,” Galo charged ahead because of course he did. “Next time we work a half shift let's find you something that doesn’t taste like a last resort, alright?”

Lio laughed that soft, kind laughter that Galo found himself chasing over and over again, and sat down adjacent to Galo at the table.

“Sounds like a plan, big guy,” Lio chuckled the tiniest bit as his knee brushed past Galo’s own on its way under. His hands were still warming themselves on the ceramic of his drink. 

Galo’s heart soared at the prospect of another (unofficial?) date combined with the brief but very real thrill of having touched him again. God, he could use a full-blown Lio hug right now but he had no idea how to make that happen without seeming like a freak. How do you get on a normal hugging basis with someone? He needed to workshop this next...

“So…” Lio began, startling Galo from his obsessive thoughts. “Are you going to finish working out? I could join you in a bit.”

“Working out..? Naw, I wasn’t working out,” Galo blinked having forgotten entirely what brought him to the kitchen in the first place. 

"Oh? Then what's in the bag?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annnd we're back baby! 
> 
> First off, if you're still here THANK YOU for reading! Didn't intend for there to be such a long gap between posts for this. Full disclosure: At first I was finishing up a few other fics in my free time but then more recently I've been dealing with health stuff and hospitals so that's been super fun. Anyway, things are leveling out now so I'm hoping to wrap this puppy up in a few more chapters.
> 
> As always, if you happen to be enjoying this please let me know! Otherwise I feel like it's just a bunch of Galo's nonsense screaming into a void haha...


	10. Flaming Rager

It should be known that Lio Fotia looks damn near illegal in a turtleneck. 

Like, a bajillion bucks of top tier super classy, secret spy-level cool in midnight smokin' black. Slim fit. X-Small. Extra _wow_. 

And this is exactly what he wore along with his vermillion red rescue cargoes as Galo towered excitedly beside him waiting for their drink order at the Lava Bean café in the Promepolis university district early one evening during a barely started night shift. 

Technically, they were out on a restock run for Burning Rescue. They had parked the SUV around the corner at one of the patrons-only city lots with the back of the vehicle filled to the brim with bulk paper towels, cleaning supplies, and more of those tiny single serve pods of that mediocre coffee Lio had been subjecting himself to in the break room last week. 

Truth be told Ignis had sent the two of them out together because A) they were still the rookies of Unit 3 and as such had the unique glory of performing the rookiest of tasks. This included, but was not limited to, stocking, cleaning, and organizing the firehouse during downtime. B) Galo looked like he needed something more productive to do other than arguing the finer points of fast food dipping sauces with Varys. And C) he really wanted to watch the Wildcats vs. Furies game in peace.

It had been Galo's bright idea that the two of them do a quick detour to get their “legit coffee" together since the café Lio initially suggested was nearby and they'd already driven clear across the city for the big box store in the northern burbs. Shopping with Lio had honestly been _loads_ more fun than shopping by himself mostly because it filled him with incredibly warm feelings of sugary domestic bliss that he hadn't even known he was into. Galo discovered he wouldn't mind if he spent every other weekend for the rest of his life comparing toilet paper brands, eating free in-store samples, and being laughed at and told to stop using the cart like a racecar so long as he got to do it all with Lio. 

Perhaps this was part of the reason why he couldn’t get the big goofy grin off his face.

"Galo…”

“Huh? What?" The blue mohawked fool snapped to attention.

“You're staring again," Lio stated with a quirked eyebrow and a half amused, half curious smile.

Galo’s eyes widened but sparkled happily all the same. He loved the way Lio said his name. It always made his heart beat faster, like, literally. He had a habit of checking his pulse on his fitness tracker it happened so frequently. The conclusion being that Lio name-dropping him in conversation was akin to twenty bench press reps in the gym.

"Shucks, Lio! I'm just super pumped to finally be doing this with you," Galo laughed gregariously, bouncing from foot to foot with excess energy at the end of the counter where they watched a delivery task rabbit pick up a rather complicated drink order.

This particular café was full of night owl university students that were clustered in little cohoards of friends, dates, and study groups. Some seemed to be simply chilling after a long week of classes while others appeared to be cramming in as much of their homework and midterm studying as possible. 

"If you're this pumped before you've even touched the caffeine then we might need to find a place for you to run laps later," the blonde reasoned, cocking his head to the side so that his sheath of heavenly lime light hair fell from behind his obsidian block triangle piercing.

"Ooo! That'd be fun! Triple dog dare you to race me Lio!" Galo boomed deeply with laughter again, amplified to the point that more than a few students threw exasperated looks his way.

"Shhh, use your inside voice Galo," Lio admonished in a chiding hush but not without that beautiful, rare growing grin of his. He playfully elbowed the brawny firefighter in the arm, sending more glorious flutters straight to Galo's very full, very weak heart. 

“This is my inside voice!” He argued, still unable to wipe the glee from seeing Lio smile off his face. A student not far from them audibly sighed over his laptop.

“Your other inside voice," Lio clarified with a soft rose-tinted eyeroll.

“I have no clue what you’re talking about man,” Galo teased. Although it was kinda true. He didn’t exactly get what Lio meant.

“You know. The one you use with me. When it’s just us,” the former Burnish explained quietly, leaning in close. His fingertips carefully grazed the back of Galo’s thick tricep causing his skin to prickle with electric elation. He was suddenly quite thankful he left his jacket in the car.

But in all honesty, Galo hadn’t ever noticed a difference in his actual volume. It also never occurred to him that he _could_ or _should_ regulate his voice. Did he really change the way he spoke depending on who he was talking to? Or where he was? He was pretty sure he used the same level no matter what...

“Order for Lio," a student barista with some curious-looking facial piercings called as they set down a medium hot latte and an iced caramel macchiato at the pickup counter.

Galo practically ached as Lio withdrew his touch in order to grab both drinks. He handed the macchiato to Galo then frowned as he stared at the side of his own cup. They mosied to the back of the humming low-lit café to find a cozy spot to sit.

“Is that not what you ordered Lio?” Galo asked having noticed the downtick in his mood.

“It's fine…”

“Really though? You look like you hate it before you've even tried it,” Galo noted brightly, plopping down hard on a rugged-looking secondhand couch that went well with the rest of the quirky, eclectic decor.

“They always spell my name wrong…” The lithe firefighter sighed as he sat a bit more gracefully beside his friend, turning the cup to show “ _LEO”_ written in sloppy black sharpie.

“Is that not how you spell it?” Galo cocked his blue mohawk to the side curiously.

“Seriously Galo?” Lio closed his eyes in lighthearted disbelief.

“Yes?” He blinked as he punched a long straw into his defined layers of light vanilla syrup, milk, and dark espresso.

“How is it that you don’t know how to spell my name after all this time?” The former Burnish asked, indignant yet still with a hint of playful wit.

“I dunno! I don’t write a whole lot," his brawny companion casually defended.

“It’s literally on the chore chart whiteboard in the kitchen,” the lime blonde shook his head unable to stop the incredulous amusement from coloring his face.

“I don’t read that,” Galo shot back in all seriousness.

“Yea, I know you don’t, but it's also on all my food in the fridge,” Lio countered knowing damn well Galo knew how to read when it came to food.

“Well, yea, but I eat out a lot!”

“You’ve written it yourself on multiple occasions.”

“Name ONE _.”_

“The welcome poster you drew for my first day on the job.”

“Uh…”

“And on my locker, the pinboard, the sticky note reminders in the gym—”

“Alright, alright! I should know how to spell your name. Sheez! Do you know how to spell _my_ name Lio?”

“G-A-L-O," Lio spelled instantaneously as he removed the lid on his hot latte slightly to blow on the steam.

“You’re such a smartie pants," Galo affectionately declared with an ornery grin.

“And you’re a bit of a nut.”

“WHOAAAAAA nelly! That’sa BIG ol' jump right there bossman!”

“Is it though?” Lio smirked knowing he was baiting Galo to some extent. It was fun in a way.

“Lookie here, I might be a shit speller but I notice _other_ things, okay?” Galo defended himself.

“Such as?” 

"Such as the way you always go around making other people feel better about themselves, but then you also seem to leave yourself off that list," Galo pointed at him with one finger while the rest stirred his drink with the straw.

"What?" Lio blinked, a seriousness melting over his face.

"Like I've seen you go out of your way to listen to Lucia whenever she—"

"Ahhh, Galo no!” Lio interrupted suddenly, his face washed quickly over with mortification.

“What? _What?!”_ Galo panicked, lowering the macchiato from his mouth and frantically glancing down at the layers of milk and espresso that had now mixed together into one uniform caramel color.

“Why did you stir it?" The former Burnish asked numbly, staring with two fingers set to his temple in dumbstruck shock.

“Uhm, because it was all separated?” Galo asked uncertainly.

"It was supposed to be like that. Now it's not a macchiato…"

"What? Why?"

"Because you _stirred_ it," Lio groaned hotly.

"So?" Galo's eyes squinted.

"So now it's just a latte with globs of caramel in it..."

"That doesn't make any sense Lio," Galo argued before sucking obnoxiously on the straw of the pristinely layered macchiato turned globby latte.

"It doesn't need to make sense for it to be true,” the lime blonde sighed, lamenting the fact that he had forgotten that Galo was essentially coffee virgin. He should have known he’d be popping the sweet innocent fool’s java cherry tonight.

But before Galo could finish slurping his iced drink and provide a sassy rebuttal, his smartwatch vibrated and blinged an alert sound. (Lio would have received the same message too, but he refused to wear a Burning Rescue smartwatch for the same conspiratorial reasons he refused to get a cell phone.)

_"Team, there's a house that may be on fire over in the University District. Looks like it’s about—"_

"Oh, it's Remi," Galo noted brightly, staring down at his glowing emergency notification on the tiny screen as Lio shh'ed him in order to hear it properly.

 _"—apparently it's at one of the off campus student rental houses,"_ Remi's serious voice continued.

_"Aren't those like a tinderbox they're so close together?"_

_"No, no, Varys, more like a powder keg! No, wait! Fireworks! Fireworks! One house starts it and then KABOOM! Inferno party on the whole block!"_

_"Lucia, that's not helping,"_ Aina cut into the feed. _"Are we going all in Remi?"_

_"A few of us should suffice. It doesn't seem to actually be inside the house at this point. A neighbor called and was concerned because it's very close in the backyard so—"_

_"Galo!"_ Ignis's voice suddenly barked.

Galo nearly dropped his already ruined macchiato.

"Yah? I mean, yessir? Lio and I are probably closeby, do you want us to go over and—"

_"Yes. Go check it out and call for backup if you need it. Shouldn't be that hard to put out a bonfire and teach some kids a bit of practical fire safety."_

"Fire safety! _Awww, yea!_ You got it! We're gonna extinguish the flames of ignorance and go over ALL the awesome things they can do to prevent house fires because that's how you _save_ lives and be _cool_ neighbors! We're gonna school them so hard that—"

 _"Galo, just GO!"_ The team collectively shouted over the call before it hung up with an unceremonious blip.

Galo blinked, frowning deeply before he blinked again, his face immediately transforming into an enthusiastic grin of epicly wide proportions.

"Looks like we're gonna get that run in after all Lio!" Galo laughed wildly once more, much to the collective chagrin of the other café patrons.

Springing up from the couch, he offered a huge slightly scarred hand down to Lio. His bright radiant smile and sparkling teal blue eyes beaming right on through him like a spotlight in the dimly lit coffee house.

Lio glanced at his companion's worn open palm for a second, hesitating, before he clasped on and pulled himself up with Galo's help.

They downed the rest of their coffee and raced each other back to the fire rescue SUV. Lio won. Galo didn't mind at all.

—

“Yanno, they all told me _‘Galo, you have the attention span of a goldfish—there’s no way you’ll be able to get enough credits to pass this year.’_ And part of me believed them 'cause, like, I dunno it’s sorta true. I was a super senior already after all. But my Jiji said to screw the haters and just focus on my classes and finishing out the season because quitters never—WHOA, is THAT the house?” Galo gawked, jaw hanging open with half impressed and half mortified wonder as Lio pulled the SUV up to the row of old houses just around the corner from the Promepolis University campus.

Although the house itself did not appear to be on fire, from the street it was very obvious that something was ablaze in the backyard because there was a massive amount of light emanating from the same place that had large billows of smoke wafting up beyond the fence between the houses.

“Alrighty Lio, I’ll show you how we handle a little _illegal_ firepit and do some _hands on_ education with these kiddos,” Galo promised, cracking his knuckles with passionate determination blazing hot in his eyes. 

Lio wondered how seriously these students were going to take a man that was barely older than they were, but he decided to reserve his judgment until after he’d seen Galo in action.

Regrettably, his judgment came not five minutes later.

"KACHAAAA!!! SCADOOSH! Begone flaming couch of questionable origins! May your reign of careless burning terror over these students end here and NOW! BAH-BAM!” Galo grandstanded as he blasted what was in fact an actual burning loveseat sofa with ten liters of foaming fire extinguishing chemical agents. 

Galo had charged through the rickety backyard gate right on into the middle of a bustling house party booming with music, laughter, and the smell of smoke and alcohol. Buzzed college students were scattered around the glowing yard, sitting in lawn chairs on the covered back porch, and poking their heads out of the second story windows as they watched the boisterous blue mohawked man showboat his defeat of their poor piece of furniture.

Said couch had been sitting ablaze a little too close for comfort near the back porch, but the students themselves seemed unconcerned as they sipped their beer and stared at Galo with growing interest.

“Students of Promepolis U! Galo Thymos and Lio Fotia of Burning Rescue Unit #3 are here to COOL DOWN this flaming rager of a party before things get totally out of hand! Furniture isn’t meant to be burned folks!” The brawny firefighter announced to the entire mass of adolescents as the music continued to thump from somewhere inside the house. He perched a boot atop the thoroughly foamed arm of the sad wet couch he had just vanquished and slapped a fist into his palm.

A piercing, suggestive whistle struck through the air as the crowd began to break into little fits of amused laughter.

“Who invited this hot daddy?” A disembodied voice called out from behind them.

“Is he a stripper?”

“What about the couch?”

“Oooo, get it Mr. Fireman!”

“He can hose me down anytime he’d like.”

“Look at the _guns_ on this guy.”

“Whoa, rescue me next handsome!”

They were… catcalling him. 

_Catcalling. Galo._

Lio felt a boiling wave of inferno-level rage crush over his entire body. Heat lit up his pinched tight features and his sharp rose-tinted eyes flickered over to Galo who was still trying to talk over the din of voices and music.

“—and so I totally know what it’s like to wanna do things because you’re _young_ and _crazy_ , but if you’re going to do ‘em anyway try to stick to strictly non-life threatening young and crazy! Like joy riding! Within the speed limit of course. And game nights! Of the non-alcoholic variety because, yanno, it’s—”

"Hey, firebro! What's that behind you?"

“Huh? What?” Galo swung around too fast, tripping himself over the foamy edge of the couch and knocking directly into a woman and her oversized bag which dropped to the singed and chemical doused grass.

"Ah! Whoopsie daisy, here let me get that for you,” Galo offered politely, bending over and subsequently displaying his tightly black-strapped and crimson red cargo-panted ass for the crowd. They cheered and wolf-whistled even louder at this.

Although he no longer possessed the power of the Promare, Lio’s face burned shades of bright scarlet with muted wild fury. 

"Dude, there's something on your shirt!" Another voice called to Galo.

“Oh my god, take it off! Take it off!” Someone else yelled as if he were on fire.

Unfortunately, Galo was not the sort of person to ever joke about anything concerning fire safety so he didn't actually identify the snickering insincerity that was so obvious to Lio at the moment. That and he was far too gullible for his own good.

“Whoa, where? _Where?!”_ Galo shouted, panicking as he shucked his black shirt up over his blue head to reveal an impressive set of rippling, razorcut and still summer-kissed muscles.

 _“Holy shit,_ gimme some of _that_ six pack!”

“Totally worth the splurge for the stripper,” someone else agreed.

“You can bend me over anytime gorgeous!”

“Imagine the package this guy must be hauling around if he’s this—”

“ENOUGH!” 

Silence returned save for the booming bass of a distant song. The crowd of students directed their gazes to the nearly overlooked, diminutive lime blonde firefighter who seemed like he was going to blow another fuse any second.

“Who’s the shortie?”

“Maybe it’s a duo performance?” 

“He’s pretty cute actually.” 

“Why don’t you take it off too sweetheart? Don’t be shy now!”

It was only then that Galo finally realized there was absolutely no fire, not even a burn mark on his shirt and glanced back to his companion to catch the look of total soul-crushing, explosive red hot wrath just barely contained on Lio Fotia’s beautifully enraged face.

The laughter was deafening as Lio snatched Galo by the hand and began to storm right back out the fence they’d come in through. Surprisingly, Galo stumbled to keep up with him.

“Lio. Lio, slow down! Waita sec! We still gotta go over safety basics with—”

The pure unfiltered rage in Lio’s glare shut Galo up immediately—his confused frown running deep as he blinked back towards the house full of half drunk party-goers.

“Be sure not to touch the foam with your bare hands! Always dispose of unwanted furniture safely! Fire pits should be at least 10 meters away from any structure! Hide your booze if campus security comes by because we can’t give you a pass for underaged drinking if any of you happen to be—” Galo yelled his last minute advice in the direction of the house before Lio threw his hand away from him at the passenger side of the car and stalked over to the driver’s seat. The SUV door slammed shut echoing ever so slightly over the uneven grassy sidewalk and old rental homes.

Galo had never, _ever_ been more afraid to face Lio than he was in that moment. And that was saying something because he had fought him in armed combat atop skyscrapers and as an insane fire-breathing, city-destroying apocalyptic Promare demon dragon thing.

Cautiously he opened the door and slowly sat down on the faux leather passenger seat, shutting them both inside away from the party that now continued sans flaming couch and two potential strippers.

Lio made no moves to turn the car on. Instead, he sat there, eyes shut tight while breathing heavily through his nose.

“Lio…” Galo murmured after one incredibly painful and awkward minute. It was probably the first full silent sixty seconds he had ever voluntarily shared with anyone. The anger was radiating off his companion in seething little waves of psychic furious energy. He needed to calm him down.

"Lio, I—”

“Galo, don’t,” the former Burnish cut him off curtly. His eyes were still closed as if he were afraid of what he might do if he opened them. Then again, perhaps he was just concentrating on something far away from here.

“But are you… are you okay?” Galo tried again softly. His heart was thudding rhythmically against his exposed ribcage—unsure of what to do but knowing he felt terrible for whatever part he may have had in upsetting him. All he knew was that he must have missed the punchline because something funny definitely happened and triggered Lio somehow. Why else would all of those college kids laugh so hard all the sudden? Had they said something about Lio that he didn't catch? He had several cans of whoop-ass on the ready if they did.

Lio didn’t answer him.

“You should, uh… You should let me drive man,” the blue mohawked fool continued soberly. It wouldn’t be safe for Lio to drive like this and he didn’t want them to get into a car accident just because he was upset. Cars could be just as fatal as fires.

There was another beat of silence before Lio spoke in the most measured tone he could muster given the situation, his eyes still clamped shut.

“Ignis doesn’t want you driving Galo."

“Ignis doesn’t want me driving TO calls. He doesn’t care if I drive _after_ them. Come on. Swap with me,” Galo begged with a bit more playfulness in his voice. At least Lio was talking. No more of this nerve-wracking silence baloney.

Lio took a second to breathe in deeply before he turned to his sweet, naive companion.

“Where is your shirt?” The lime blonde sighed upon seeing the broad bare chest and abdominals that had just turned on a hoard of horny college students—ladies, gents, and everyone in between.

Galo glanced down at his impressively autumn-chilled perky nips and goosebumped pecs.

“Huh. Must have left it in the backyard,” he noted innocently.

Lio groaned leaning his head atop his knuckles that gripped the steering wheel, his sheath of blonde hair concealing his face.

 _“Psych!_ I’ve got it here,” Galo laughed, immediately producing the black tee before Lio could labor too much over how utterly embarrassing it would be to go face those people again.

“Why are you like this?” Lio muttered as he watched Galo's massive torso and comparatively tiny waist wriggle back into it. The dark folds covering the gorgeous cuts of tawny muscle that none of those people should have _ever_ been privy to.

“I dunno,” the brawny firefighter admitted brightly. “Cause I can be?”

“Well, it’s not funny considering how many of my things have gone missing recently...”

“You found most of ‘em though, didn’t you?” Galo tried to ask casually. 

He had slowly been leaving Lio’s formerly-stolen clothes in random places throughout the firehouse in order to return them to him in the least conspicuous ways possible over the last few weeks. Under the bench press in the gym, on the coffee table, wedged between the sofa cushions, in the supplies closet, hanging over a shower stall, on the concrete floor in Bay 1, in the backseats of the rescue vehicles, etc, etc. Fortunately, when Lio had asked about his duffel full of damning thieved contraband Galo had sprung up to defend himself with some bullshit rambling excuse, accidentally knocking Lio's mug of hot shitty coffee from his hands and shattering it right onto the linoleum floor of the kitchen. Through Galo's repeated apologies and muttered curses cleaning up, Lio had completely forgotten his original question regarding the contents of the gym bag.

"I don't know… I still can't find my favorite sweater...” Lio answered somberly, shifting his gaze away from him to stare out at the darkness of the quaint neighborhood beyond the window. He continued to clutch the steering wheel as if he was trying to ground himself physically, like it would help calm the storm raging in his mind.

It cannot be overstated just how often Galo Thymos blindly followed his heart verses thinking about the implications of his actions, and this sole behavior is why he reached over and placed a warm palm on top of Lio’s tense pale hands.

Troubled rose-colored eyes shifted over to him.

Galo very gently peeled back Lio's fingers from the wheel.

“Time to switch boss,” the blue mohawked hunk smiled as he set Lio’s hand down on his thigh and patted it twice for good measure.

“Okay,” Lio replied softly, feeling the spark leave his skin when Galo’s touch retreated.

Galo got out of the vehicle and opened the driver’s side door which he clung heavily to while offering Lio a hand to get up. The lime blonde stared at it for a moment before sighing and giving in to his selfish desire for more contact. His body relaxed ever so slightly as Galo hauled him to his feet.

When the tender-hearted fire safety nut had finally pulled away from their off-campus street parking, he drove in the opposite direction Lio had anticipated.

“Where are we going?” The former Burnish asked slowly after a few quiet minutes of observing that yes, they were not headed back to Burning Rescue. In fact they were going farther north, out of the city it seemed.

“Little detour,” Galo smiled back with that broad, classic shit-eating grin of his.

Lio didn't know whether he should laugh or cry or protest, so he did none of these things. It was easier to just let his emotions numb over into a neutral calm. More recently it had been incredibly challenging to do this because Galo made him _feel_ things more intensely. Galo pried open doors inside himself that he had been trying very desperately to keep shut, which was alarming on multiple levels considering no one had ever done that to him before. But Lio didn't want anyone else to get hurt because of him, which had almost happened just now. Back in the middle of all those innocent (albeit incredibly rude) students he almost lost his cool entirely because for the first time since that botched fundraising banquet he had been completely overwhelmed with more epically lethal emotions that threatened to tear him apart. 

Jealousy.

_Shut up._

Envy.

_Don't look at him._

Fury.

_You can’t call him that._

Resentment.

_He’s not yours._

Disgust.

_But he’s not mine either..._

Lio's heart pulsed and fractured again at this sickening realization. That he was getting far too attached to Galo and behaving in such a disgusting and dangerous manner. He tried fiercely to ice over these despicable feelings. To cool himself down as much as possible while Galo continued driving towards the shadowy nighttime mountains in the distance.

—

“What is this place?” Lio asked quietly as Galo shifted the SUV into park along a roadside pull-off in a switchback going up the foothills of the mountains. The lookout spot had a stunning view of the Promepolis city lights far away on the dark horizon—millions of tiny pinpricks in skyscraper office buildings, suburban sprawled neighborhoods out in the flat desert, and the traffic that never slept weaving in between it all. 

It was beautiful.

“Just a little tourist stop for people to see the city and stretch their legs,” Galo explained, chipper as ever. “There’s more though! You wanna go for a walk?”

“...I suppose.”

The higher elevation made the already brisk evening feel even colder with the little sharp gusts of alpine wind. Despite this, Lio followed Galo down a narrow unmarked dirt path through the grass at the end of the parking area. It wound its way up through a thicket of trees and rocky terrain even farther north away from the luminescent city skyline. The former Mad Burnish leader was about to question his companion again until they rounded a corner and he understood.

The sheer vastness of the landscape on the other side of the short trail took his breath away. They stood at the top of a steep cliff before a plunging deep moonlit valley between the earthly giants of arid forest and stone. A shimmering dark river snaked through the bottom and thousands of stars hung above it all in the infinite black satin sky.

Lio was going to comment, but then Galo sneezed.

“Good _grief,_ it’s cold up here! And if I’m cold you _gotta_ be freezing, eh Lio?” The big lug chided, elbowing the lithe firefighter’s arm lightheartedly.

Without a word, Lio pulled one hand out of his Burning Rescue jacket pocket and brushed the back of his icy fingers against Galo’s knuckles to corroborate the theory.

 _“Youch!_ How do you live like this?! Where are your gloves man?” Galo balked, snatching the freezing appendage between two huge cupped hands like he was catching a firefly.

“I don't know… And I told you a lot of my things have been missing recently…” A slightly red-nosed and pink-cheeked Lio mumbled, shifting his gaze back to the valley overlook.

Shit. Galo felt that suckerpunch in his gut.

“I’m sorry... I can try to help you find ‘em later if you want.”

And by “later” he meant go digging through the few things left in his gym bag, stealthily drop them on the floor on their way to their bikes at the end of the shift, and proclaim that he'd magically “found” them.

Suddenly, Galo's mood switched from the heaviness of his thieving guilt to outright stupefied wonder as he realized he was still holding Lio’s _hand…_

And he _wasn’t_ pulling away. 

Lio had left his likely altitude-numb fingers right where they were sandwiched between his own blazing warm and slightly sweaty palms. Maybe… maybe he didn’t mind it then? Didn’t mind Galo holding him like this? The thought sent multi-colored rocket flares of joy and heart-thundering shock through him. The deep healed over burns on his arm tingled.

“So... what happened back there Lio?” Galo asked with genuine concern, silently telling himself to calm the flip down as he brushed a thumb over the cold pale fingers in his grasp. They didn’t move—just laid there perfectly manicured attempting to absorb his heat.

“It was nothing…” Lio deflected predictably.

“Nothing? _Riiiiight,_ because Lio Fotia regularly goes around trying to burn laser holes through innocent bystanders with his eyes alone.”

“They weren’t _innocent,”_ the lime blonde scoffed.

“I guess you’re right. The likelihood that _all_ of them were of drinking age is slim to—”

“That’s not what I meant,” Lio snapped, still not bothering to remove his hand from Galo’s.

“Then what DO you mean?”

The look on Lio’s face was one of discomfort so far as Galo could tell. Like he was grappling with the answer internally before letting it out. Why was he always so damn concerned with filtering his point of view? Wasn’t it just that? His feelings, his thoughts? How could any of those be "wrong?"

“They were yelling at you Galo,” Lio finally settled on. “Didn’t you hear them?”

“Not really, I thought my shirt was on fire,” the brawny fool admitted without skipping a beat.

“I find that hard to believe…”

“Okay, well, what’d they say then?”

“I’m not repeating that filth.”

 _“Liiiiiiiioooooo,”_ Galo moaned, squeezing his hand and shaking it like he could rattle some sense into him.

“Do you seriously think whining like that is going to make me—”

But upon seeing the ridiculous teal blue puppy dog eyes and matching absurdly stupid and oddly endearing pout on Galo’s face Lio did something he never did for anyone.

He caved. 

“Alright, alright, stop it. I was _jealous_ , okay? I shouldn’t have been, but I was. Are you happy now?” The former Burnish blurted out with even more shades of pink flushing his cheeks and nose. Surely, the wind caused that.

Galo blinked.

“Why were you jealous?” He asked slightly open-jawed and trapped between feeling completely dumbfounded and delighted beyond belief.

“...Does it matter why?” Lio mumbled feeling mortified that he’d actually said that aloud.

“It’s doesn’t _not_ matter,” his companion countered.

“Why do you always use double negatives…”

“I don’t know what that means, but you’re dodging the question,” Galo said pointedly, tugging on Lio’s hand a bit to draw him closer with mischievous affection.

“I’m not dodging the question…”

Galo raised his eyebrows and leaned in intently.

“Don’t give me that look.”

Galo continued to raise them even more and failed miserably at containing the ornery smile peeping onto his face.

“Okay, stop. Seriously, it’s because… because no one should talk to you like that...” Lio nearly fumbled his words. It was true. Mostly. 

“Like I’m some hot stripper daddy who should take more than just his shirt off?” Galo offered unhelpfully.

“So you _did_ hear them, you jerk,” Lio tsked, finally yanking his hand away in irritation. He pulled up the collar of his rescue jacket, shielding his face from Galo or the breeze or both.

However, the big hulking fireman who was not in fact a stripper grabbed his wrist at the same time.

"Hey, don't hide your face!" Galo laughed, trying to pry his hand away and leaning in closer than before.

"Why not?" Lio shot back, defiant but still determined to keep the jacket collar up close enough to partially conceal himself where his silky lime blonde hair could not.

"Because you're really cu—"

Galo’s entire body froze. His hand still clasped onto Lio’s wrist near his hopelessly rouge-tinted face. 

"You were going to say cute again, weren't you?" Lio asked without any spite in his voice. His rose-colored eyes were so honest tonight. Honest, but also clearly troubled. There were oceans of starlight reflecting back in them.

"Yah…" Galo barely breathed, realizing their faces were so _very_ close now. 

So close they could kiss. 

So close they _should_ kiss.

Magnetically and without thinking, Galo leaned forward to close the already laughably narrow space between them. Lio's eyes fluttered shut, heart pounding the world over, skin prickling with anticipation, lips slightly parted waiting…

…for Galo to miss.

At the corner of Lio's mouth, really more so on his cheek than anything, Galo’s innocent lips pressed a soft hesitant kiss to his skin. It was a boyish, novice sort of thing. One that was equal parts curious, eager, and maddeningly sweet.

When Galo opened his own teal blues they blew wide and his whole body jerked back hastily—right towards the edge of the rocky drop off.

“Gah! Lio, I’m so sor—”

Instinctually, Lio's fight or flight reflexes kicked in. Like a strike of lightning, he snatched his companion by the forearms and deadweighted his much smaller body in the opposite direction. This succeeded in pulling Galo away from the cliff, but sent the two of them tumbling hard into the dusty grass.

The view of a slightly dazed Galo Thymos above him against the backdrop of the starry night sky was even more breathtaking than the valley below had been. Lio’s pulse was off the charts and this very much had to do with the way Galo’s heavy, muscular body had landed atop his own. Their legs awkwardly entwined, stomachs pressed together, hips locked solidly into place above and below, and Galo’s heart inside that huge chest of his seeming to beat just as fast as his own.

“Lio, I’m SO sorry! I thought—well, I dunno what the hell I thought, it seemed like the right thing to do! But I didn’t ask and you didn’t say you wanted to. Ugghh, I shouldn’t have assumed! How fucking mega uncool is it to just jump someone like—”

His eyes widened realizing he currently had Lio pinned to the ground.

“AHHH! Holy shit! Are you okay? I’m totally crushing you, I—”

“I like it,” Lio whispered, staring straight up at him in near disbelief of the situation they were in now and the words that just passed his lips. He attempted to swallow the knot in his throat.

“—and you didn’t ask for me to—wha... Did you just… Huh?” Galo sputtered, trying to process what he _thought_ he just heard.

“I like it,” the former Burnish repeated in all shocked seriousness. 

"O-oh. Should… should I…" Galo hesitated, heart beating erratically, dick fully invested in his answer. 

"Yes," Lio interrupted, hooking his fingers into the fabric of Galo's jacket and lowering him until their noses slid against one another and their lips met properly for the very first time.

Galo's inexperience was even more apparent now as he kept his mouth shut against Lio's, but there were fireworks all the same. The lime blonde shifted slightly in a rolling motion to encourage him to open up, which he did just a little, melting them fully into the alluring waves of sparking electric glory. He tasted incredible, smelled incredible, and _felt_ incredible with the layers of rock hard muscle tensing above Lio in ways he hadn’t even let himself imagine for fear that he’d desire them far more than he ought to. The wild feral feeling inside him that had overtaken him at the party seemed to be calming down now—transforming into a pleasurable state of possessiveness and validation and so many other things that he had been trying to avoid because he didn’t deserve this. He didn’t deserve it at all.

However, Lio’s body disagreed wholeheartedly with this sentiment, and frankly he wondered if Galo had noticed. It was impossible not to feel Galo’s own interest digging into his hip.

When their lips finally broke apart, they hovered centimeters apart. Speechless. Breaths heaving in the insectless autumn silence of the mountains.

“Is this why you brought me here?” Lio finally spoke, smiling the tiniest bit through a few labored huffs.

“Naw,” Galo admitted, thoroughly and dizzyingly disoriented himself. “I just thought you would feel better if I brought you to see them.”

“Brought me to see who?”

“The Promare. You said they were stars, right? Or turned back into stars or something..? Maybe I didn’t remember right,” Galo laughed a little at himself, moving aside and offering Lio a hand to sit up.

“I suppose I did,” the lime blonde remembered their discussion on the roof a few weeks ago as he took his hand one more time.

Galo hauled him into a sitting position and the familiar bling of his smartwatch signaled again.

 _“Galo, where are you guys? It’s been hours. Do you need backup?”_ Aina’s fuzzy voice asked from the glowing screen at his wrist.

“Shit,” Galo cursed then held a button down to speak. “No, no, we’re good! All taken care of. Finishing up. Be back soon, alright?”

_“Okay, well don’t take too much longer—Remi’s getting anxious. Lio’s still with you, right?”_

“Yes, _mom.”_

_“Don’t MOM me Galo, I’m just making sure you’re not alone.”_

“Why, cause you think I can’t handle it?” Galo shot back getting entirely too heated for no reason.

 _“No, because two heads are better than one,”_ Aina’s voice chastised him. _“Also, the SUV needs to come back in one piece.”_

Galo groaned.

 _“Don’t be a pain in the ass for Lio, okay? See you soon!”_ She chimed and promptly ended the call with a blip.

An owl cooed softly in the distance somewhere down the mountain.

“Ignis really doesn’t want you driving at all, does he?” Lio ventured. 

“Yea, he totally banned it like a year ago...”

Lio shook his head smiling and sighing as he sat beside Galo in the grass. He tipped his blonde head back looking out over the valley once more—smelling the earth and pine beneath them and soaking up the last few moments of starshine they had left. Galo looked up too. There was so much to process now.

"You know, they’ll always be there for you Lio,” his brawny companion noted rather seriously, fidgeting a bit beside him.

Lio glanced over.

“Who will?”

“The Promare,” the blue mohawked fool replied sincerely. “Even if you can't see them. Kinda like me." 

“Why do you keep saying things like that...” The lithe firefighter fought to keep the blush off his face but it was pretty much impossible at this point. Galo had wrecked his perfectly composed facade or maybe he himself had when he nearly lost his shit in front of those people. Either way.

“Because it’s true Lio,” his kissing partner answered earnestly.

“But it doesn’t make any sense…” Lio sighed, knowing he didn’t deserve any of the happiness he’d felt that night.

"It doesn't need to make sense for it to be true," Galo said softly, squeezing his fingers and wondering when Lio’s heart would stop fighting so hard to prove him wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know there was a bit of a wait for this one too, but hopefully it worth it! The boys are alright, yea? I've had this whole thing outlined for a long time but spent a while really fleshing out this and the next few final chapters. 
> 
> If you happen to be enjoying the ride so far, let me know! It's like rocket fuel for writers you know? 😉 Thanks for reading!


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